Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has no desire to become the president of South Africa, she said at a Cape Town Press Club function on Monday.

"I am neither qualified to be president, nor interested in that job," said Madonsela, who is currently on a fellowship at Harvard University.

But she would love to see a female president, as long as she is not a "proxy" president.

"Because that would be worse than having a man," she added.

Madonsela said she would also like a president who would get South Africa "back on track".

She said she was going to spend the year working at Harvard towards a social justice programme that she hoped to establish at Stellenbosch University in 2018.

She also wants to join the Cape Bar for some part-time work.

Madonsela paid tribute to her successor, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, saying her office seemed to be going in the right direction.

Madonsela ended her seven-year tenure in the hotseat with an interdict against the release of her report into state capture.

She also faces criminal charges over the release of an audio of President Jacob Zuma being questioned by her on allegations that the Gupta family may have had an undue influence in his appointment of certain Cabinet ministers.

The former Public Protector revealed that she had become passionate about the Fees Must Fall movement after her daughter told her about students sleeping in university bathrooms because they had nowhere else to go.

She suggested a campaign involving everyone in the country donating R5 towards fees, to be matched by government, to help alleviate the burden on students.