Parliament - Cabinet said on Thursday that the police were investigating allegations that State Security Minister David Mahlobo was involved in a rhino-poaching syndicate.
Mahlobo has denied any wrongdoing. The allegations against the minister emerged in an Al Jazeera documentary this week.
“Cabinet noted the allegations in an Al Jazeera documentary against the Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo, and noted that the South African police services are investigating these allegations,” the cabinet said in a statement.
Based on undercover interviews with self-confessed rhino horn dealers, the documentary screened sensational claims intimating that Mahlobo and his wife could be linked to illegal rhino horn smuggling via a Chinese national, who owns a massage parlour in Mbombela.
The documentary also suggested that Mahlobo might have been involved in cancelling the contract of a private intelligence group involved in anti-poaching investigations around the Kruger National Park in 2014.
Mahlobo has flatly denied the allegations and threatened legal action for defamation against Al Jazeera and private intelligence consultant Nigel Morgan.
Reuters and The Mercury