An Al Jazeera documentary films a Chinese rhino horn dealer claiming that South Africa’s State Security Minister, David Mahlobo, is his friend in high places…

“There are people out there who sell those… everyday. You need to know a middleman for rhino horn. You tell them when you want it, and what you want. They sell it secretly. There are so many weirdos in South Africa. They are obsessed with animal protection. That’s very dangerous and troublesome.” – Wu, a restauranteur in Chinatown, Johannesburg.

Al Jazeera went undercover to follow the illegal trade of rhino horn. From South Africa to Vietnam and China. it’s both a factual and visceral report everyone should watch.

IS MINISTER MAHLOBO & HIS WIFE INVOLVED?

Disturbingly, one smuggler claimed to have friends in high places, even showing a picture he claimed was of him and State Security Minister David Mahlobo, a man who controls South Africa’s intelligence agencies. The smuggler said that the minister stayed in the background whilst his wife ran the business side.

Mahlobo has denied the allegations.

South Africans will be further interested in Mahlobo as the man who believed, without proof, that the ex-Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, was a spy for the CIA. Similar conduct is alleged here, as a reason to terminate an overseas funded, anti-poaching operation which had successfully caught Chinese smugglers (who were then bizarrely released to disappear).

This is undercover journalism of the finest order. Watch the full documentary, ‘Al Jazeera Investigates – The Poachers Pipeline’. They leave the biggest revelation til last.