South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu dies at 90

"The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation's farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa," he said in a statement.

The iconic leader was a tireless activist, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for fighting white minority rule in his country.

Tutu had been hospitalised many times since 2015, after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997. He and his wife, Leah, were living in a retirement community outside Cape Town.

Tutu’s death on Sunday “is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” Ramaphosa said in a statement.

“From the pavements of resistance in South Africa to the pulpits of the world’s great cathedrals and places of worship, and the prestigious setting of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the Arch distinguished himself as a non-sectarian, inclusive champion of universal human rights.”

He used his position as the first Black bishop of Johannesburg and later the Archbishop of Cape Town to galvanize public opinion against racial inequity both at home and globally.

He spoke relentlessly against abuses when an emergency was imposed in South Africa and sweeping powers were given to the military to deal with anti-apertheid violence that gripped the country throughout the 1980s.

Even after the end of the racist apartheid regime, Tutu remained at the forefront of activism against injustices in South Africa and confronted the South Africa's shortcomings.

The iconic leader popularised the term "Rainbow Nation" for South Africa when Nelson Mandela became the nation's first black president.