South Africans should vote for parties that uphold the Constitution when they go to the polls next week, former President FW de Klerk said on Thursday.

Speaking at a media briefing in Cape Town, he declined to be more specific, other than that those votes should not go to the African National Congress (ANC).

"When the people of South Africa go to vote, it is my hope that they will vote for the Constitution and that they will seriously consider what parties they can entrust the Constitution to," he said.

De Klerk, who played a pivotal role in South Africa's transition to democracy, said he felt a "residual responsibility" to contribute to upholding the historic pact South Africans had concluded then.

The country had in recent times seen "a sorry descent from the rule of law" thanks to the ANC's politicisation of all institutions of State.

"The National Prosecuting Authority's decision last week to drop the prosecution of Mr Jacob Zuma I think may be, and will be identified by future historians, as the point at which South Africa began to stray from the rule of law," he said.

De Klerk also criticised recent statements by Zuma, who leads the ANC, saying that the head of the Constitutional Court was "almost like God" and that this was unacceptable in a democracy.

"Mr Zuma is an affable and astute politician," De Klerk said.

"He may or may not become a good President. However, whatever his performance, he must accept that he is subject to the law and to the Constitution."

He called on Zuma, if he became President, to observe both the spirit and the letter of the Constitution in all his actions, and to end "fundamentally unconstitutional" attempts to establish party political hegemony over all institutions of State.

De Klerk said he had decided which party he would vote for on
Wednesday.

However he would not reveal it, because he did not want his FW de Klerk Foundation to be seen to be associated with any particular party.

He said he had chosen not to pledge allegiance to a party since the dissolution of the New National Party.

He said it was not only the ANC that posed a threat to the Constitution, though its majority and strength meant it posed the most important threat.

"There are quite a few of the very small parties which hate the Constitution, which dislike it. Also don't vote for them."