HUNDREDS of applications forms - filled in by people applying to become police officers - have been dumped behind the Delft Police Station in Cape Town

Sowetan was tipped off that the forms, as well as copies of the applicants' senior certificates and identity documents dating back to 2008, were discarded.

A source at the police station said most of the forms belonged to black applicants.

"If you notice, most of the forms have been filled in by black people. There are no white or coloured names there," our source pointed out.

"This is clearly racism. These forms were submitted in 2008 and 2009. People wasted the little money they had to make photocopies and get them certified but their applications were not going anywhere. Someone must be accountable for this," said the source.

When Sowetan visited the scene on Friday, the dumped forms were scattered on the ground in the station's backyard, behind a low wall. Most of the surnames on the forms were Xhosa and SeSotho.

Sowetan called the police station's communications officer Joe Wilson from the scene to ask him about the box of dumped application forms.

But he denied the whole thing.

"I don't know what you are talking about. There is no box there," he said as a Sowetan reporter stood right next to the dumped forms.

Wilson claimed that all applications handed in at the police station get submitted to the human resources department. He said they were then send to the provincial SAPS offices.

National police spokesperson Colonel Vishnu Naidoo referred Sowetan to the provincial police spokesperson, saying that the police recruitment process has been decentralised.

But provincial police spokesperson Colonel Billy Jones declined to comment. He also would not say whether it was normal for application forms to be dumped on the ground.

He insisted that Sowetan use Wilson's comment - even though Wilson had denied the incident. He then said he would only respond to questions sent to him in writing.