NOBEL PEACE PRIZE winner Desmond Tutu says he will soon retire from public life. The human rights campaigner said he will retire on his 79th birthday, on 7 October, to spend more time with his family.

Tutu said that his schedule of public appearances had grown increasingly gruelling, and he has been spending too much time “at airports and in hotels.”

He will limit his time at the office to one day per week from October onwards in an effort to wind down his public responsibilities. Once he retires, he will no longer be available for media interviews.

He said he will stay involved with the humanitarian campaign group the Group of Elders, which also includes former Irish president Mary Robinson.

Referring to Nelson Mandela’s decision to withdraw from public life, he said: “As Madiba [Mandela] said on his retirement: Don’t call me; I’ll call you.”

He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and continued to lobby tirelessly against apartheid in his native South Africa.

He appeared at a number of World Cup games in South Africa this summer.