One person has been killed and at least 18 people injured in a plane crash near South Africa's capital Pretoria.

Russel Meiring, a spokesperson for paramedic company ER24, said the injuries in Tuesday's crash range from minor to critical. The company later tweeted there had been one fatality.

South African news outlet eNCA said the MAC Martin's Air charter plane crashed near an airport in the Wonderboom area.

Photographs from the scene show a damaged charter aircraft in a field, and helicopters on standby ready to airlift patients to hospital.

The Civil Aviation Authority said it dispatched investigators to the crash site.

Tshwane Metro Police Department spokesperson, senior superintendent Isaac Mahamba confirmed that a small plane had crashed, according to eNCA.

"We suspect that the plane was on its way to the Wonderboom airport," Mr Mahamba said.