The tabling of the Protection of Information Bill may be delayed, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Monday.
"It is not a question of putting it on ice... there may be a delay," he said.
He would not confirm news reports that the bill would be withdrawn as a result of a decision taken at the ANC's weekend national executive committee meeting.
An official announcement would be made later in Parliament.
He said it was a "difficult bill" and that the media and Sanef (SA National Editors Forum) were exaggerating it by calling it a media bill.
It was actually a security bill, Mantashe said.
