Archbishop Desmond Tutu received a spiritual leadership award ? and a gift from the Dalai Lama ? at Freedom Park in Pretoria on Saturday.

After Tutu was granted the spiritual leadership award by an organisation called Humanity's Team, it was announced that the Dalai Lama had also sent him a gift.

A white scarf was then draped around his shoulders by a representative of the Dalai Lama.

"Leaders such as Madiba [Nelson Mandela] spent 27 years in prison and humbly reconcile[s] with the enemy: One would expect them to be bitter."

"[The] Dalai Lama has been in exile for 50 years and one will expect that by now he should have been corroded by bitterness ? and he is not," said Tutu when receiving his award.

Tutu, together with former state President FW De Klerk pulled out of a peace conference last month after the South African government refused the Dalai Lama a visa.

The conference was cancelled after they pulled out.

On Saturday night, Tutu walked in to receive his award while an electric mix of African opera, pop and rock music was performed.

Side-by-side with him was singer Joseph Clark, while the Gaabo Motho Tenors, Yollandi Nortjie and traditional dance group Amakhono We Sintu performed on the stage.

Tutu then took off his hat, bowed his head and proceeded to his seat among dignitaries.

The audience who braved the cold evening weather gave him a standing ovation.

Humanity's Team award co-ordinator Steve Farrell said Tutu was being awarded for the spiritual leadership he had shown over the years.

"Spiritually he stands up for the oppressed," said Farrell.

Receiving the award, Tutu kept the crowd laughing, telling them that times had changed since the apartheid era.

"Today you can see mixed couple walking side by side, even a razor blade could not pass between them," he said demonstrating just how closely the coupled moved.

Freedom Park CEO Wally Serote said the presence of Tutu reminded him of some of the reasons why the Freedom Park was created.

Tutu was the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which recommended that there was a need for a symbol in South Africa to remember the past.

"The symbol to remember where we come from," said Serote.

The Freedom Park is a memorial site which commemorates a number of international and national struggle leaders.