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Opposition parties are not interested in finding a solution to the Nkandla saga, the African National Congress (ANC) said on Thursday.
"It gives them oxygen. If you were to minus and resolve the issue of Nkandla, these parties will become redundant and irrelevant because they've got no other issue," national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said.
"Hence they are not interested in finding a solution on Nkandla."
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) said they would not accept the proposed settlement offered by President Jacob Zuma earlier this week.
On Tuesday, Zuma sent a letter to the court to suggest that it order the auditor general and finance minister to determine how much he should pay back for the multi-million rand upgrades to non-security features at his home in Nkandla. This included the visitors' centre, the amphitheatre, the cattle kraal, chicken run and the swimming pool.
There was a "need for finality," Zuma's lawyers said.
However, the Constitutional Court responded on Wednesday saying it was up to the parties to decide on the settlement.
The EFF and DA were due to argue in the Constitutional Court next Tuesday that Zuma needed to comply with Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's recommendations and repay a reasonable part of the R246-million spent on renovations at Nkandla.
Madonsela joined the court action as a friend of the court.
On Thursday, the public protector's office said Madonsela had consulted her legal team on Zuma's proposal.
"Her standpoint remains that the remedial action taken in her report must be given effect in full unless she has been fully engaged and has relaxed aspects thereof to accommodate changed or unforeseen circumstances," it said in a statement.
"The current law, as determined in the Supreme Court of Appeal judgment in the DA and others vs SABC and others, is that the public protector's remedial action stands until set aside in a judicial review process."
Kodwa said Zuma was trying to provide leadership by proposing the settlement.
"The issue even from the president's point of view was not that the matter must go before the court, it's for the court to make a determination."
The ANC was also adamant that Zuma's proposed settlement was not an admission of guilt.
Kodwa insisted that none of the reports on the multi-million rand so-called security upgrades at Nkandla, found that the president was guilty of any wrongdoing.
The public protector found that Zuma and his family had unduly benefited, but Kodwa claimed this was not the same.
"Now that he offers, at the recommendation of the public protector... to pay a portion, others say this is an admission of guilt.
"The Public Protector did not find that the president was guilty. All investigations, none of them point to guilty except to say he unduly benefited."