President Jacob Zuma was put up for sale in a tongue-in-cheek advert on classifieds website Gumtree, The Star reported on Monday.
The advert was posted by “Average Joe” on Thursday but disappeared soon afterwards, the publication reported.
It featured Zuma’s picture, with the price set as “negotiable”.
“Desperately in need of a functioning president. This one costs too much to maintain, will take what we can get at the moment, just make an offer,” read the message accompanying the picture.
The advert said further that the seller was willing to “swap for smarter/cheaper model” but would not entertain offers from chancers — “only bar-code ID or TAX payers please”.
Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told the publication he had not seen the advert and would not be able to comment.
Gumtree spokesman Estelle Nigel reportedly said that the online buying and selling platform could not be used to sell humans.
“We encourage users to only upload advertisements that offer legitimate goods and services (or requests for the aforementioned),” the publication quoted her as saying. — Sapa