South African 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 South Africa on Monday after attending the BRICS leaders' summit in India and was advised to rest and recover, his office said in a statement.

The statement said Ramaphosa had asked cabinet ministers to represent him at scheduled public events where possible, without saying how long his absence might last.

South Africa's deputy president, Paul Mashatile, is also resting on the advice of his doctors after a medical procedure.

UNGA delegation

Foreign affairs minister Ronald Lamola will lead South Africa's delegation to this year's United Nations General Assembly in Ramaphosa's absence, the South African Broadcasting Corporation 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 made false claims that South Africa's white Afrikaner minority is being persecuted.

South Africa 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.