Renowned South African photographer Afred Kumalo has died from kidney failure in Johannesburg on Sunday, eNCA reports.

Alfred Dukuza Mangaliso Kumalo, 82, was born on September 5th 1930 in Alexandra and matriculated at the Wilberforce Institute in Evaton. He began his working career as a journalist and photographer for Bantu World in Johannesburg in 1951. In 1956 he joined the Golden City Post as a permanent staffer. He made his name as a photographer when he started shooting for the iconic Drum Magazine in 1963. Over the years he has photographed and documented many of the historic moments in recent South African history. These include the Treason Trial, the Rivonia Trial, the emergence of Black Consciousness, the Student Uprising of 1976 and the Codesa talks.

Over the decades he also photographed national and international legends including Miles Davis, Miriam Makeba, Dolly Rathebe, Dorothy Masuku, Thandi Klaasen, Sibongile Khumalo, Louis Armstrong, Gerry Mulligan, Frank Sinatra and more.

In his retirement he ran and managed the Kumalo Photographic Museum in Diepkloof, Soweto.

Kumalo also came out of retirement to shoot the January 2012 cover feature of acoustic Afro-pop sensation Zahara for Rolling Stone SA.

"It was an honour to have a legendary lensman like Bra Alf work with us," says Rolling Stone editor, Miles Keylock. "His body of work is a powerful visual documentary of our nation's roller-coaster ride to democracy and the triumph of a compassionate, unshakeable spirit."

Click here to see behind se scenes photographs of Alfred Kumalo photographing Zahara for the January 2012 cover and feature of Rolling Stone SA.