Former president FW de Klerk said a "new national dialogue is needed" during his address at National Foundations Dialogue on Friday morning in Johannesburg.
De Klerk shared the stage with former presidents Kgalema Motlanthe and Thabo Mbeki, and former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Their foundations joined other organisations to discuss the "deep and pervasive national general crisis" facing the country.
De Klerk began his speech saying that the country is "experiencing a constitutional crisis", and that the country needs to discuss the Constitution. He said that the core problem was that the president was not discharging his duties.
He went on to say that "proper merit" needed to be taken into account when appointing people, and that a radical change towards the approach to corruption is needed.
He said: "Surprisingly enough, I agree with President Zuma that we need radical economic transformation." But added: "We don't need the economic transformation being spoken of by Prof Chris Malekane".
"Our economy is in a more powerless position than its ever been since 1994", said the former president.