ANC president Jacob Zuma needs to match his statements in support of constitutionalism with actions, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday.

Writing in her weekly newsletter on the DA website, Zille said if Zuma was serious about the rule of law, constitutional mandate of the courts, independence of the judiciary, and political neutrality of other democratic institutions, he should match his words with deeds.

Firstly, he should accept the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to appeal the high court's ruling, and instruct his party to do the same.

ANC spokeswoman Jessie Duarte had called the NPA's move "cynical and ill-considered", while the Congress of SA Trade Unions' KwaZulu-Natal secretary had described it as "a declaration of war on our people".

"It is hypocritical of the ANC and its alliance partners to praise Judge [Chris] Nicholson's ruling and then to lambaste the NPA's decision to appeal it," Zille said.

The NPA was fully within its rights to appeal the verdict -- that was the due process of law -- and Zuma had himself had recourse to the appeals mechanism on several occasions during his trial.

Moreover, if there was a prima facie case against Zuma, the NPA was legally bound to explore every legal avenue to ensure justice was done.

Secondly, as ANC president, Zuma should abandon his party's cadre deployment policy. In deploying cadres to supposedly independent state institutions, the ANC had subordinated these institutions to its own political agenda.

Once factionalism became rife within the ruling party, it was inevitable that cadres would use the institutions they led to fight battles on behalf of their political masters and persecute their political opponents.

"Cadre deployment has completely undermined the independence of our constitutional institutions, whose very role it is to limit the ruling party's power and guard against the abuse of that power.

"It is time for the cadre deployment policy to be discarded once and for all, and Zuma must set the ball in motion.

"But he is unlikely to do so. Why would Zuma want an independent person as the National Director of Public Prosecutions when he is facing allegations of 783 counts of bribery over 10 years involving R4.2 million?

"Zuma has done everything to avoid his day in court in order to gain the power of the presidency.

"If he does become president, it is likely that he -- more so than Thabo Mbeki -- will abuse the office to protect and enrich himself and his clique.

"Cadre deployment is one of the key tools of abuse," she said.

Zuma's commitment to constitutionalism, and the commitment of the ANC's post-Polokwane leadership, had yet to be truly tested.

The NPA was to appeal the high court ruling, and it might
reinstitute charges against Zuma.

"If either of those moves is successful, our constitutional
democracy will face its greatest test yet.

"But our judiciary is strong, and more people support the rule of law than the rule of war.

"For that reason, I believe that the Constitution, rather than empty war-talk, will win the day," Zille said.