Zuma spokesman dismisses reports Ramaphosa may be sacked

President Jacob Zuma's spokesman said on Friday there was no basis for reports that the country's leader would axe his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa, speculation about which has weighed on the currency and bonds.

"It's rumours and gossip and we don't comment on them at all," Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told Reuters.

Answering questions in parliament on Thursday about whether he might be sacked, Ramaphosa, a frontrunner in December's African National Congress leadership contest, said he could not speculate on rumours.