Bloemfontein - Media organisations yesterday called Judge Joos Hefer's decision to force a journalist to testify before his commission "a serious blow to media freedom".

The ruling placed journalists at risk and eroded media freedom, said the SA National Editors' Forum, the South African chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa and the Freedom of Expression Institute.

Former Sunday Times reporter Ranjeni Munusamy refused earlier yesterday to take the stand in a public hearing of the Hefer Commission in Bloemfontein, indicating that she would first apply to the high court to review the judge's decision.

His ruling included that she might object to certain questions, after which Hefer would rule whether she must answer them.

Munusamy was the main author of a newspaper report in which allegations first surfaced that national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka may have been an apartheid-era spy. The report eventually led to the establishment of the Hefer Commission.

The three media organisations, referring to Munusamy's intended court application, said yesterday they would meet to discuss how to put their support for her into practice.

They accused Hefer in their joint statement of ignoring their substantive argument before the commission earlier yesterday.

They said they were shocked that Hefer had also ignored a claim by Munusamy that some of her sources had threatened her.

Veteran journalist Raymond Louw argued earlier yesterday for the three organisations that media freedom and journalists' lives would be in danger if they were forced to testify and identify their sources.

Informants in the public and private sector who wanted to blow the whistle on crime, corruption and misdemeanor would refrain from doing so.

"This type of information generally requires journalists to maintain the confidentiality of their sources. It would dry up if they were perceived to be informers of the police and (other) authorities," Louw said.

The Democratic Alliance, to the contrary, said in its reaction journalists could testify before the commission without feeling compromised.

DA communications spokeswoman Dene Smuts said Hefer's approach would seemingly allow journalists to explain why some questions should not be answered.

Smuts quoted a previous seminal ruling of Hefer on media freedom, the so-called Bogoshi judgment.

She said this should instill confidence that the judge would give due weight to the free flow of information in a democracy.

Smuts said it would be "useful" if Munusamy testified without necessarily naming sources. This would allay concerns that the media was being used.

Hefer ordered yesterday that Munusamy's high court application must be filed not later than next Friday.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and the Cape Times.