The Hawks have provisionally appointed 929 members so far, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Friday.

The Hawks, the name of the new Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, started vetting processes in June, Mthethwa said in a statement.

"A total of 929 members have been issued with provisional appointment letters to the Hawks, subject to final selection to the directorate."

He said vetting started in June after processes were put in place to vet all former Scorpions investigators who chose to transfer to the police, and organised crime, commercial crime, and hi-tech centre police.

A total of 2187 employees had submitted applications.

"Crime intelligence is currently considering the applications and will issue the clearance certificates once they have finalised the vetting process," said Mthethwa.