Cape Town — African National Congress (ANC) policies threatened SA's constitution and the ruling party should not be given a two-thirds majority in next week's election, former president F W de Klerk said yesterday.

The ANC had led SA on a "sorry descent" from the rule of law and there was a real risk it would abuse its power, De Klerk said . The judiciary was under pressure and the questioning by SA's next president Jacob Zuma of the supremacy of the Constitutional Court was a major concern.

Speaking as head of the FW de Klerk Foundation, the former president called on voters to vote for parties which were committed to upholding the constitution, and called on Zuma to respect his oath of office to uphold the constitution and all other laws. De Klerk attributed the ANC's deviations from the rule of law to its ideology of a national democratic revolution which required the ruling party to establish its hegemony over all institutions of the state as well as to its unconstitutional policy of deployment of party cadres to key positions in the public service, parastatals and private sector.

He called on Zuma to put an end to both. "The ANC's deviations from the rule of law have led to a flurry of legal challenges which will drag the courts further into the political arena. Any one of these challenges might succeed, with parlous potential for unleashing a serious constitutional crisis.

"An enormous amount is at stake. The constitution is the foundation for our national unity. It is the assurance of our rights and freedoms -- without it we will descend into the mire of 'Big Man' politics that has blighted so many other countries in Africa."

De Klerk said the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to withdraw charges against Zuma could be identified by future historians as the point at which SA began to stray from the rule of law. This had to be taken together with the dissolution of the Scorpions, the dismissal of former national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) Vusi Pikoli and the early release from prison of Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir Shaik.

"The cumulative effect of these developments has been to raise serious doubts regarding the continuing independence of the NPA and the continuing supremacy of the rule of law.

"There is serious reason for concern that powerful political leaders and not the NDPP will in future determine who will be and who will not be prosecuted. " he said.