The ANC has bowed to pressure on the Protection of State Information Bill, proposing a raft of changes in response to sustained criticism of the bill over the past two years.
These include a compromise on a public interest defence as a way of protecting journalists and whistle-blowers who risk prison to expose state wrongdoing.
ANC members of the National Council of Provinces' ad hoc committee processing the bill have proposed that section 43, which criminalises revealing classified information, make an explicit exception for cases where "such disclosure reveals criminal activity".
ANC sources say the amendment which resembles an alternative proposed by the Democratic Alliance - will cover whistle-blowers without creating the spectre the minister had feared of people disclosing vital state secrets and then invoking the public interest.
