S.Africa's Ramaphosa says finding he misled parliament "deficient" in fact and in law.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday the anti-corruption watchdog's finding that he deliberately misled parliament about donations to his party election campaign was "unfortunate" and "deficient both factually and in law".

"It is unfortunate, however, that from a cursory reading of the final report, it seems that the President's response to the Section 7(9) notice has not been given due consideration," Ramaphosa said in a statement published by the presidency.

The ruling released by the Public Protector on Friday said Ramaphosa had effectively lied to parliament about a 500,000 rand ($35,900) donation he received for his 2017 election campaign for the leadership of the ruling African National Congress.