Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s archbishop and one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement, has died at the age of 90.

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa announced his demise in a statement on Sunday.

The statement described Tutu as a man who “turned his own misfortune into a teaching opportunity to raise awareness and reduce the suffering of others”.

“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generación of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” the statement reads.

“He wanted the world to know that he had prostate cancer and that the sooner it is detected, the better the chance of managing it.
“Ultimately, at the age of 90, he died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town this morning.”

Tutu received the Nobel peace prize in 1984 for his campaign of non-violent opposition to South Africa’s white minority rule.

Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and in recent years was hospitalized on several occasions to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment.

Having officially retired from public life on his 79th birthday, Tutu continued to speak out on a range of moral issues, including accusing the West in 2008 of complicity in Palestinian suffering by remaining silent.