12 October 2026 · Reporting checked against the primary and independent sources below.
A return to the station under scrutiny
Democratic Alliance MP Nicolas Gotsell has asked senior police officials to explain why Constable Dumisani Diko was permitted to return to Delft police station in Cape Town while facing criminal charges linked to an allegedly missing case docket.
According to Gotsell’s account of an oversight visit on 1 October 2026, Diko had returned to work and was deployed for a period in the charge office. Gotsell says he wants to know what systems and records the constable could access and who approved his duties. The claims about deployment and access have been reported, but the full internal police records have not been made public.
What the criminal case does—and does not—establish
The constable was arrested in late August after a SAPS Anti-Corruption Unit investigation into a missing docket. He appeared in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on 2 September and was granted R3,000 bail, according to Cape Argus reporting. The matter was postponed to 22 October.
He faces allegations including theft, corruption and defeating the ends of justice. A report alleged that R500 was paid to make a docket disappear, but the alleged amount has not been established in court. The charges do not amount to a conviction, and Diko is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Why case-file access matters
Police dockets can contain witness statements, investigative leads and evidence. That is why Gotsell has requested details of the officer’s charge-office shifts, electronic-system permissions and any audit of access to case material after his return.
The MP says he will seek a further station inspection if he does not receive answers by Monday, 12 October. That is a stated intention, not confirmation that an inspection has occurred. The key unanswered question is what restrictions, if any, SAPS placed on access to case records while the criminal proceedings continue.
