President Jacob Zuma is considering a new offer by Britain's The Guardian newspaper to settle his defamation case against it, according to Sunday's Rapport newspaper.

The new offer was considerably better than the first and the president could accept it, The Media Specialist's Liesl Gottert, who was handling his defamation cases, was quoted as saying.

He rejected the newspaper's first offer of £10 000 (about R128 000).

Zuma sued the newspaper for defamation last month for an article by journalist Simon Jenkins headlined "Get used to a corrupt and chaotic South Africa. But don't write it off", published on 6 March in which he was referred to as a "criminal" and a "rapist".

Zuma was reportedly "very disappointed" with The Guardian's subsequent apology.

Gottert said Zuma would make a decision this weekend about the new offer.

In its 21 April apology, the newspaper regretted suggesting Zuma was guilty of rape and said this was included due to an "editing error".

Sapa