Journalist Ranjeni Munusamy, the third witness the judicial commission intended to call, indicated that she would ask the high court to protect her from testifying.
This came shortly after Hefer's decision that she must testify, although with the option of objecting to answering certain questions.
The judge's ruling came despite morning-long appeals by Munusamy's advocate, John Campbell, and several media organisations that she should not be forced to give evidence.
In a sworn affidavit handed in as evidence, Munusamy alleged that her physical safety had been threatened more than once should she reveal certain confidential sources.
The former Sunday Times writer had used these sources to compile a newspaper report, which she leaked to the City Press after her own editor refused to publish it. Allegations that National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was an agent for the apartheid government first surfaced in this story.
After Campbell announced his intention to approach the high court to review Hefer's decision, the judge adjourned the proceedings.
By 2pm the parties were still locked in discussions to determine a date before which the review application must be filed in the high court, probably in Bloemfontein.
A member of Munusamy's legal team indicated they should be ready to file by next week.
Other journalists the commission intended to call as witnesses may now also refuse to testify pending the outcome of Munusamy's review application.
Among them are City Press reporter Elias Maluleke and the editors of both the City Press and the Sunday Times.
Veteran journalist Raymond Louw argued earlier on yesterday that public trust in the media would be destroyed if journalists were forced to testify.
"The public will adopt the view that this second role, that of police informant, renders valueless media assertions that they gather news and publish in the public interest".
Louw said in such a case a journalist's ostensible professional role came to be seen as a cloak for a perceived role as informer for the authorities.
He maintained that journalists should not be forced to testify, provide information, hand over material or reveal their confidential sources.
This would violate the constitutional rights to freedom of expression and of the media.
It would have a "chilling effect" on journalists, making them afraid to pursue controversial stories.
Louw's submission was made on behalf of the SA National Editors' Forum, the Freedom of Expression Institute and the South African chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa.
It was supported by the Media Workers' Association of South Africa, the International Press Institute and the International Federation of Journalists.
On Wednesday, ANC stalwart Mac Maharaj and foreign affairs official Mo Shaik succeeded in getting their opening submissions before the commission postponed to November 17.
They alleged that a seven-page-long list of apartheid-era documents first had to be retrieved to support their evidence.
The two men are expected to be among the main witnesses to brought in an attempt to confirm the spying allegations against Ngcuka, as they had done in public statements in the past few months.
Hefer indicated yesterday that Munusamy's review application would not stop the commission from proceeding in the mean time with the rest of its public investigation. – Sapa.
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