South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday night delayed his speech to allow people to watch the final bulletin of a veteran journalist.

Xhosa newsreader Noxolo Grootboom had been working for the South African Broadcasting Corporation for 37 years.

President Ramaphosa described her as an "outstanding journalist".

The president delayed his speech for 30 minutes, the same amount of time Ms Grootboom's last bulletin took.

Ordinarily, the president's speech gets priority over the rest of the television programming and is aired live.

Ms Grootboom was reported to have cried when she heard the president had delayed his speech in her honour, local media reported.