ONE of the driving forces behind the ending of racial segregation in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has died at the age of 90.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said: "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.
"Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead. We pray that Archbishop Tutu’s soul will rest in peace but that his spirit will stand sentry over the future of our nation."
Born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, he trained as a teacher and graduated from the University of South Africa in 1954. He taught in high school for three years and then began studying theology, being ordained as a priest in 1960. In the early 1960s he furthered his studies in England before returning to his homeland to teach theology.
He returned in the early 1970s to England where he worked as an assistant director of a theological institute.
Archbishop Tutu was a driving force alongside Nelson Mandela was one of the driving forces behind anti-apartheid and ending the policy of racial segrefation and discrimination from 1948 until 1991.
In 1984, he was awarded the Nobel prize for his work and was renowned around the world.
He was Bishop of Johannesburg between 1985 and 1986 and Archbishop of Cape Town between 1986 and 1996.
His death comes weeks after South Africa's last apartheid-era president - DW de Clerk. By Elizabeth Birt, South Wales Argus