Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has been readmitted to hospital.

Tutu was hospitalised with a 'persistent infection' and spent about a week at a Cape Town hospital.

The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate was on a course of intravenous antibiotics to treat the infection, which was not connected with the prostate cancer that he has lived with for 15 years.

He is reported to be back in hospital for the same 'persistent infection' just a week after being discharged.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has been readmitted to a hospital in Cape Town … He was discharged from hospital last Tuesday, and readmitted this afternoon after expressing renewed discomfort. His doctors considered it prudent for him to return to hospital for observation," read a statement from the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.

Messages of well wishes have since been pouring in from people and political parties.

"Congress of the People urges everyone in South Africa to pray for our beloved Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu so that he can, as quickly as possible, find relief and good health again.

"Bishop Tutu has been the moral voice and conscience extraordinaire of our country. He prayed for our salvation and stood shoulder to shoulder with all those who struggled to achieve liberation in our country. The freedom we enjoy today came at a price. Even so, he stood with his peers at the forefront of the struggle," read Cope's Facebook post.