Ramaphosa and Mashatile off sick — this is who is running SA

President Cyril Ramaphosa has been booked off from public engagements due to ill health on the advice of his medical team, his office said on Wednesday.

Ramaphosa, 73, returned to the country on Monday after attending the Brics leaders’ summit in India and was advised to rest and recover, his office said.

The statement said he had asked cabinet ministers to represent him at scheduled public events where possible, without saying how long he might be out of action.

Deputy president Paul Mashatile is also resting on the advice of his doctors after a medical procedure.

International relations & co-operation minister Ronald Lamola will lead South Africa’s delegation to this year’s UN General Assembly in Ramaphosa’s absence, the SABC reported.

Lamola will arrive in the US at a time of renewed diplomatic tensions after the US imposed visa restrictions on some South Africans over what it called race-based discrimination.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has claimed SA’s white Afrikaner minority is being persecuted. SA rejects that, saying there is no evidence of discrimination against whites and that it has a right to put in place policies to address the legacy of centuries of racial injustice.