If President Jacob Zuma has to leave before his term ends, he should not be humiliated in the process, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa told eNCA on Sunday.

Speaking in his capacity as newly elected president of the majority party the African National Congress (ANC), Ramaphosa conceded that people are eager to know if Zuma will stay on until the end of his term in 2019, or be asked to leave early.

"Whatever we do, we need to deal with this matter with the level of maturity it requires, with the proper decorum," Ramaphosa told Dan Moyane in the one-on-one interview.

"And I would say we should never do it in a way that is going to humiliate, president Zuma.

"We should never do it in a way that is going to divide the nation," he added. "It is a very delicate matter."

He conceded that there was a lot of interest in how the boss of the country's majority party, would handle being the deputy to Zuma in government after he took over as president of the party from Zuma at the party's elective conference in December.

Both are in the positions at the behest of the ANC, and have to carry out ANC policy. Ramaphosa said assessments had to be made but the issue would not be dealt with immediately.