AP

A man shouts out his objections during a protest against the Protection of Information Bill.

The Protection of State Information Bill will come before the National Assembly for a vote on Tuesday – and not on Wednesday as was widely expected.

The ANC’s majority in the house is expected to carry the vote, but opposition parties will be making declarations against it.

Civil society organisations, including media lobby groups, are expected to mount protests as the bitterly contested bill takes its next step towards becoming law.

Once approved by the National Assembly, the bill will be referred to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence.

Tuesday’s vote comes after the ANC hastily convened a series of “interactions” with communities to explain the bill “and obtain their views”.

A number of meetings were scheduled to take place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Gauteng, the Western Cape, Limpopo, the Free State, North West, Northern Cape and Mpumalanga, according to a schedule released on Friday by ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga’s office after inquiries by Independent Newspapers.

The big question now is whether amendments to the bill will be possible once it is before the NCOP.

While the ANC has indicated this is possible, the DA is less confident – and does not, apparently, intend proposing any amendments itself as it would be “pointless”, according to DA chief whip Watty Watson.

He told Independent Newspapers on Friday he believed the ANC would not propose new amendments in the NCOP, as the ruling party wanted to “push the bill through”.

He claimed the NCOP could – but did not have to – refer the bill to provincial legislatures.

A more likely scenario was for the NCOP to simply deal with the bill itself – without amendments – or create its own ad hoc committee to process it, or refer it to the Select Committee for Security and Constitutional Affairs.

Opponents of the bill, including Cosatu, have vowed to fight on, all the way to the Constitutional Court, if necessary. - Political Bureau