It is unlikely that the Constitutional Court will approve the Protection of Information Bill in its current form, according to former President FW de Klerk.

In a wide-ranging interview published in Thursday's Die Burger newspaper, De Klerk said the elements of federalism in the Constitution, freedom of the media, the free market economy and the independence of the judiciary were in danger.

All "balanced South Africans" who valued democracy had reason to be very concerned.

"If there has ever been a good time for civil society to join the debate on these four matters, it is now. The framework offered by the Constitution provides some protection.

"I don't believe the Constitutional Court will approve the media legislation and the Protection of Information Bill as they stand at the moment," he said.

"The same goes for ownership rights. The green paper which will be published soon does not comply with the Constitution. The same goes for the provinces. This is protected in the Constitution."

However, it was necessary for the media to critically evaluate the mechanisms by which the industry regulated itself.

"I think there is room for improvement. And if the media should decide to make some improvements, it would relieve some of the pressure and then there will be a way to successfully prevent the establishment of a state-controlled tribunal and access to information being limited too severely," De Klerk told the newspaper.

He conceded there were "corresponding elements" between the arguments currently used by the ANC to justify a media tribunal and those used by the apartheid government in 1982.

"But the situation in 1982 was somewhat different. There was actually a silent war going on.

"We were still involved in Angola then and there were still thousands and thousands of Cuban troops and the [Soviet Union] was still alive and it was still providing financial support, weapons and training to struggle movements."

The emergency measures set in place by the government in 1986 and 1987 were essential and saved many lives, he said.

On a possible split in the ANC, De Klerk said the glue holding the party together had disappeared, and it "is going to tear apart".

"If you analyse the broader structures of the ANC you will find people grouped together who believe in completely different things. The old glue which kept them connected was the struggle to end apartheid. Apartheid is gone now, and so is the cement.

"So the ANC is going to split. They don't like hearing it, but I'm convinced it will happen. And when it does, we will see our democracy normalised to a greater degree.

"Then alliance politics will take a strong step forward in South Africa. Alliance politics allows for realistic compromises," De Klerk said.