A channel on pay television DSTV mistakenly advertised former president Nelson Mandela's obituary, causing panic among viewers, according to a report on Wednesday.
An ad of the obituary, titled "Remembering Madiba 1918-2013" appeared on Universal Channel 117 on Tuesday night, featuring some facts about Mandela's life, The Star reported.
Mandela, 94, was admitted to hospital last week and is being treated for pneumonia.
The presidency and the Nelson Mandela Foundation contacted Multichoice chief executive Nico Meyer on Tuesday night to complain, according to the publication.
Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told the newspaper that the mistake was "unfortunate" and "insensitive to the Mandela family".
He commended the channel for removing the insert and explaining the mistake.
Maharaj said: "We accept that mistakes happen and I do not foresee that this has caused any irreparable damage."
According to the newspaper, Universal Channel has apologised for the glitch.
The channel said it had obituaries ready for major statesmen and offered a "sincere and heartfelt apology for the airing of such announcement... due to a technical error by our team".
Angry viewers vented on social networking site Twitter, calling on the channel to pull the insert and apologise.