Condolence messages have started pouring in from world leaders for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and anti-apartheid veteran, Desmond Tutu, who died on Sunday at the age of 90.

One of the tributes came from the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who praised his leadership and humour.

The prime minister said, “He was a critical figure in the fight against apartheid and in the struggle to create a new South Africa – and will be remembered for his spiritual leadership and irrepressible good humour.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa had announced the death of Archbishop Tutu  in a statement on Sunday.

The statement issued on behalf of the Tutu family described him 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 generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” the statement read.

“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.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu changed the world, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said, adding, “The world is different because of this man.”

Tutu preached against the tyranny of the white minority but his fight for a fairer South Africa never ended, calling the Black political elite to account with as much feistiness as he had the white Afrikaners, according to Reuters.

In his final years, he regretted that his dream of a “Rainbow Nation” had yet to come true.

“Ultimately, at the age of 90, he died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town this morning,” Dr Ramphela Mamphele, acting chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust and Co-ordinator of the Office of the Archbishop, said in a statement on behalf of the Tutu family.

A frail-looking Tutu was seen in October being wheeled into his former parish at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, which used to be a safe haven for anti-apartheid activists, for a service marking his 90th birthday.

Dubbed “the moral compass of the nation”, his courage in defending social justice, even at great cost to himself, always shone through. He often fell out with his erstwhile allies at the ruling African National Congress party over their failures to address the poverty and inequalities that they promised to eradicate.

Life and times

Tutu, just five feet five inches (1.68 metres) tall and with an infectious giggle, travelled tirelessly throughout the 1980s, becoming the face of the anti-apartheid movement abroad while many of the leaders of the rebel ANC such as Nelson Mandela were behind bars.

Although he was born near Johannesburg, he spent most of his later life in Cape Town and led numerous marches and campaigns to end apartheid from St George’s front steps, which became known as the “People’s Cathedral” and a powerful symbol of democracy.

‘A prophet and a priest’

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.

In 2013, he declared his support for gay rights, saying he would never “worship a God who is homophobic”.

Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere recalled “a great little man who showed the power of reconciliation and forgiveness”.

“We are better because he was here,” Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King, said. Palestine Liberation Organisation official Wasel Abu Youssef said Tutu was “one of the biggest supporters” of the Palestinian cause.

Tutu and his long-time friend Mandela lived for a time on the same street in the South African township of Soweto, making Vilakazi Street the only one in the world to host two Nobel Peace Prize winners.

“His most characteristic quality is his readiness to take unpopular positions without fear,” Mandela once said of Tutu. “Such independence of mind is vital to a thriving democracy.”

At a Boxing Day service at St George’s, the Very Reverend Michael Weeder paid homage to Tutu from the Archbishop’s former pulpit, saying it was “once the celebrated point of command” before asking the handful of parishioners present to bow their heads in a moment of silence.

“It is sad, but he was old and served his country very well and it’s a very painful loss at a time when there is a leadership crisis in the country and the world,” said Ntokozo Mjiyako, a lawyer, taking an early morning stroll in Cape Town.

British billionaire businessman Richard Branson, said, “The world has lost a giant. He was a brave leader, a mischievous delight, a profound thinker and a dear friend … He used his incredible moral courage to bridge divides and showed all of us how we have one common humanity.”