With the spies out of the way at the Hefer commission, it will be the turn of the intelligence organisation's cousin in the information gathering process the media.

But the commission has indicated it does not intend creating a confrontational interaction with the media, and it now seems possible that former Sunday Times journalist Ranjeni Munusamy might escape being forced to give evidence at the inquiry.

Munusamy was the co- contributor of an article in City Press that originally publicised the allegation that Scorpions chief Bulelani Ngcuka was investigated as being a spy for apartheid which is one of the issues the commission is mandated to investigate.

Commission spokesman John Bacon said yesterday that lawyers acting for Munusamy had formally notified the commission of their intention to apply for the right to appeal against a finding of the Bloemfontein High Court that she must testify.

The commission said at the weekend that it did intend to require Munusamy to testify. However, it would be impossible to enforce the requirement while her application to appeal was pending, it said.

Bacon said yesterday that the overall intention of the commission was to expedite the process of finding the truth and the commission still hoped to complete its hearings by mid-December.

The commission also did not want to call witnesses unnecessarily and it would examine the evidence to discover whether it would be necessary to call Munusamy.

"It might be we don't need to call her," Bacon said.

"We will need to discuss it at a later stage."

Munusamy has been resisting giving evidence before the commission, arguing that it was unethical for journalists to be forced to reveal their sources.

She said more than 18 people were involved in a thorough checking procedure before her story was published, and she undertook to keep the sources' identities secret.

Munusamy's stance has been supported by media organisations, which have been critical of Judge President JP Malherbe's finding that the requirement that she give evidence did not violate any of her constitutional rights.

However, former City Press editor Vusi Mona is due to give evidence tomorrow.

The commission has also indicated it might be interested in hearing evidence from former Sunday Times editor Mathatha Tsedu. But here again, the commission is open to the possibility that it might not be necessary to call Tsedu.

Tomorrow, lawyer Krish Naidoo is due to be called in relation to a part of the proceedings concerning a meeting of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers that took place in 1988.

There has been a dispute during the evidence-gathering process about whether Ngcuka attended this meeting, and it is expected that Naidoo will help to clarify the situation.

Next week, the commission will be hearing evidence from Ngcuka.

The commission has not yet decided whether Deputy President Jacob Zuma should be called to give his evidence.

A former member of the Scorpions, Josia Boale, may also give evidence on the question of whether the public prosecutor has abused his powers.

With acknowledgements to Tim Cohen and the Business Day.