Bloemfontein - Several subpoenas are to be issued to the country's intelligence agencies for documents they have refused to supply to the Hefer Commission.

Commission secretary John Bacon said the directors-general and heads of the various agencies would be summonsed to testify before the commission and submit all relevant documents in their possession to aid the commission's investigation.

Bacon said it was hoped the commission would have all the information it needed to get public hearings back on track by November 12.

Judge Joos Hefer is investigating claims that National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid-era spy.

The terms of reference for the commission were extended to include the question of whether either Ngcuka or Justice Minister Penuell Maduna had abused their power due to alleged obligations towards the apartheid government.

The two main accusers in the saga, former transport minister Mac Maharaj and former ANC intelligence operative Mo Shaik, are expected to give their evidence at the commission from November 17.

Earlier this week Judge Hefer said he would fail in his duties as commissioner if he left it up to Maharaj and Shaik to obtain documents relating to the spy claims from the country's intelligence agencies.

The decision by the commission comes after several meetings with the country's intelligence agencies to sort out the stand-off between them and the commission's investigators.

Their hopes were pinned on a speedy resolution to the problem when advocate George Bizos SC came to Bloemfontein on Friday to make submissions on behalf of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and South African Secret Service (SASS).

On Monday the other legal teams at the commission, however, told Judge Hefer that Bizos had been "singularly unhelpful" and had delivered nothing "but a lecture about the law".

Counsel for the minister of justice, advocate Norman Arendse SC, called for the commission to subpoena the documents it needed, saying there was no reason in law why the commission could not do so. It was clear from Arendse's submission that what he and his client wanted was for the lists of apartheid spies to be presented to the commission, whether in public or behind closed doors.

In a statement released on Monday the NIA, however, made it clear "that no member of the intelligence community is allowed to disclose any information in the possession of the agency without the authorisation of the director-general".

The Freedom of Expression Institute and the South African History Archives said in a joint statement that the NIA and the SASS were relying on an "anachronistic" piece of legislation - the Protection of Information Act - not to help the commission.

Legal commentators said the Promotion of Access to Information Act should take precedence over other laws.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and the Cape Times.