SOUTH Africa’s government told the former national ombudsman to stop meddling in affairs of state yesterday after she continued to campaign against President Jacob Zuma.

On Thursday, former public protector Thuli Madonsela defended her actions in leaking taped interviews with Mr Zuma’s legal counsel to the media as she took up a chair in social justice at the University of Stellenbosch.

Those discussions concerned her report on the alleged influence of super-rich Indian family the Guptas on appointing government ministers, which the ANC Youth League has called “half-baked.”

Yesterday, the president’s office said Ms Madonsela “has discharged her duties as the public protector and has no further role to play in the process.

“Her unwarranted public attacks on the president … are unbecoming and are not helpful.

“It would be prudent therefore, for the former public protector to step back and allow legal and constitutional processes to unfold unhindered.”