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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has learned that seven of the top SAPS officials at the Mountain Rise police station in KwaZulu-Natal, were given notice of a disciplinary hearing late yesterday for manipulating crime statistics. This followed immediately after an oral debate in the National Assembly yesterday, during which I took the Minister to task on this issue. What is of concern, though, is that we have received further information that the acting provincial commissioner has apparently ‘guaranteed' these SAPS members that they will not be suspended. If this is the case, this is entirely unacceptable, and probably unlawful. I will thus submit parliamentary questions right away to get to the truth. The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) descended on the station on November 13, 2008, and found evidence that crime statistics from this station had been manipulated. They found 170 unregistered dockets hidden in a room, containing cases ranging from fraud to vehicle theft. The ICD recommended that the appropriate action be taken against the Station Commander as, "he should take responsibility for the actions of his members". Months later, nothing had been done. As a consequence, in yesterday's oral question session with Minister Mthethwa, I asked why the ICD recommendations had not been followed at this Police Station. I also asked why no action had been taken against those that had allegedly been involved in fraud, while the whistleblower had been suspended without pay. The whistleblower had to go to extraordinary lengths to have his salary reinstated. He was refused SAPS legal representation and had to seek a high court ruling to have his case heard. Meanwhile, according to our information, the officials facing sanctions are receiving advice from SAPS legal services. This manipulation of statistics led Mountain Rise police station to move from 40 out of 184 stations to the number one station in KwaZulu-Natal, owing to the reduction in crime. It was also reported that the station received a R500 000 bonus for being the top station in the province. Serious questions will still need to be asked whether these members will be suspended should they be found guilty. In particular, we need to establish whether the acting provincial commissioner is indeed protecting these officials; whether the R500 000 allegedly paid to the station will be returned; and how it could possibly be appropriate for these officials to be receiving legal assistance from the SAPS legal services division, even while the whistleblower was refused such assistance.