The National Assembly extended the deadline for finalising the controversial Protection of Information Bill on Thursday by three months to September 23.
Lawmakers unanimously agreed with a motion tabled by ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga to extend the lifespan of the committee drafting the bill to this date.
The deadline has been moved several times under pressure from journalists, rights activists and legal experts, who have described the bill as an attempt to muzzle the media and return to apartheid-style state secrecy.
Motshekga's office said this week the extension would "afford parliamentarians sufficient time to administer the bill with thoroughness and precision, taking into consideration [a] wide range of views already expressed during the public consultation process".
It added that the ANC was confident that there would be no further extensions.
The committee was supposed to have completed its work on the bill and reported to the Assembly by June 24.
However, the ANC ran into strong opposition inside and outside of parliament last month after stating that it would not tolerate indefinite debate on the bill and began putting contentious clauses to the vote.
The Congress of SA Trade Unions published a scathing analysis of the bill and threatened a Constitutional Court challenge should it be passed in its current form.
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