The peace prize, together with other stolen goods, were identified by his wife Leah and handed over to her at the Orlando police station in Soweto, police spokeswoman Thembi Nkwashu told AFP.

Apart from the Nobel gold medal, which the former archbishop of Cape Town won in 1984, electrical goods including two television sets and a DVD player, jewellery and other awards stolen from the house were returned to her, she said.

Five men -- aged 21 to 39 -- were charged last Tuesday with theft and the illegal possession of stolen goods taken during the burglary of the cleric's home and are to appear before magistrates Wednesday in Johannesburg, she added.

The items taken during the break-in last weekend in the Soweto township on the outskirts of Johannesburg were recovered on Monday.

Affectionately known as "The Arch," the 75-year-old Tutu was out of the country when the burglary took place.

Tutu had on Wednesday in Geneva made an impassioned plea for peace between Israel and the Palestinians after a UN fact-finding mission into the killing of 19 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Tutu, who headed the mission, called on Israel to publicly state what measures it had taken to prevent another incident similar to the one in Beit Hanun last November, when an overnight Israeli artillery bombardment destroyed Palestinian homes.