this is bbc news. the headlines: leading world figures have spoken in praise of the former un secretary general kofi annan, who has died at the age of 80. mr annan rose through the ranks of the united nations to serve two terms in the top job, and was awarded a nobel peace prize for his humanitarian work. ecuador has brought in new rules that stop venezuelan migrants from entering the country without a passport. more than 4,000 venezuelans fleeing economic crisis at home have been arriving every day at ecuador‘s border with colombia. indian rescuers in helicopters and boats have braved torrential rain to reach people stranded in floodwaters in the southern state of kerala. nearly 200 people have been killed in the past ten days, following unusually heavy monsoon rains. the indian prime minister, narendra modi, described the situation as devastating. now on bbc news, bbc africa correspondent alastair leithead investigates the alleged links

between the illegal rhino horn trade and corruption in zululand's courts and its national parks. the rhinoceros has been on the planet for millions of years. but it could be gone in our lifetimes. its horn is now worth more than cocaine on the black market, and so poachers are driving rhinos to extinction. i mean, they're a wonderful species. but it seems to me they want to completely eliminate them from the face of the earth. but it's notjust the greed of poachers and traffickers. corruption is fuelling the crisis. it doesn't matter where you get in zululand, there's police corruption. in south africa it is infecting the courts, and the parks that should be protecting them.

half of the rangers are corrupt. we meet the go—between who took bribes from poachers. i would give to most of his friends, and most of his friends are lawyers, prosecutors. magistrates who are now being investigated, and we meet the activist risking her life to bring down the kingpins. i try to be as careful as i can. i don't have a fixed address, i change my phone number all the time. you know, i'm like a ghost. helicopter drones. the search is on. somewhere in the trees below are dozens of rhinos. this huge private reserve in south africa is fenced

and protected 24/7 by heavily armed guards. but the best way to deter the poachers is to remove what they kill for. and so the mission is to find the rhinos, sedate them, and dehorn them to save their lives. but they're shy, suspicious, and aggressive. it's going to be a long day. the poaching epidemic here began ten years ago. in that time, more than 8,500 african rhinos have been killed for their homes. most of them here in south africa,

which is home to 80% of the continent's stock. there are now only perhaps 25,000 left. 1,000 rhinos are being killed here every year. that is nearly three a day. hluhluwe imfolozi park in zululand is the home of the southern white rhino. all of those remaining today originated here, but it is also where they are now most at risk. it is not the first time these prehistoric animals have faced down extinction. but, at the current rate of killing, it could be the last. huge herds once roamed africa,

until colonial wars reduced them tojust perhaps 100, all in zululand. in the 1960s, there was a major push to save the species. tension mounts as the dart is filled with the costly drug. using new drugs, the plan was to sedate and catch the rhinos and transport them to other parks. 0peration rhino, captured in this film, was spearheaded by imfolozi park's head warden at the time, ian player. the very first time that ian player, dr ian player and others, started darting rhinos, it was a great moment. so you can see that this has been very close to my heart from a very early age. it is a very painful thing for me to see what is happening to these animals today.

because they're a wonderful species, but it seems to me they want to completely eliminate them from the face of the earth. so i think the whole of south africa reeks, if i may say so, of corruption. the moving of rhinos continues to this day. even if the technology and the techniques have changed a little. it's dramatic, but it's harmless. and few years ago, before he died, ian player, the shirtless marksman from the ‘60s, came to see a new generation trying to save the species all over again in zululand. she's still a bit lively. the vet who worked on this translocation to other parks is now

kept busy in other ways, carrying out postmortems on poached rhinos. well, you know, in the past it was something that was unusual. it was almost novel to go out to a poaching scene and conduct a forensic examination. half a dozen a year was a lot. and then, in the last ten years, it's slowlyjust picked up. we — last year alone, between my colleague and myself, we did 176 examinations, which is phenomenal. and that is all in kwazulu—natal. dave cooper is a government that. it is public parks like hluhluwe—imfolozi which are increasingly being hit. they have a large concentration of rhinos, and less security than private parks. it is tough dealing with this every other day. i think the ones that are the hardest are where you arrive at a scene and suddenly

you realise there's a survivor. it was one animal that had been — it had been shot in the neck, but in the process of removing the horn, the rhino must have revived and got up and run away. so i found this animal with half a face, half a horn sort of hanging off the face. really something difficult to prepare oneself for. you know, you have to think about what this animal's gone through to get into that state. and then, as a vet, i've got to think about what i can do to help this animal. from experience, he knows that corruption is allowing this killing to continue. but obviously the poacher, it's useful to have somebody on the inside, that can tell you where the rhinos are, number one, and numbertwo, where the rangers are. so it becomes fairly obvious when you have an anti—poaching patrols in one particular spot for a couple of days. they get

pulled out to rest, or something like that, and the next night, the poachers are in exactly the same spot and they've shot the rhino. and he's not the only one to say so. we secretly met a range from hluhluwe—imfolozi park. we're protecting his identity and his voice. half of the hluhluwe—imfolozi rangers are corrupt. many, many people, many are totally involved in rhino poaching. there are some people involved as an insidejob in rhino poaching. they've got friends. they got brothers. they've got everything. they've got everyone who can say, i want to poach the rhino. that's a problem. he described an incident when rangers assigned from another park were told to hold off when they came across poachers. before rhino poachers started

to attack the rhinos, and so they radioed in their report, one of the rangers replied, no, wait for us. we are the people going to attack those people. wait. they waited, up until the poachers shot one rhino. the rhino was screaming. he blames the rangers in charge for deliberately preventing the poachers from being stopped. nothing happened, but they took the horns and ran away after that. so you could have caught them, if you hadn't been stopped? if no—one had disturbed us at that time, everyone, these people who were around that place, would have been caught. he also blames management for being involved in corruption, and says even if they catch people with horns and guns, they aren't always jailed. we arrest people in possession of rhino horns, but they have gone to court and have been found not guilty, and they are freed.

it's because of corruption. these people, these kingpins, have lots of money. they give it to the police, to the lawyers. there has been corruption, in terms of some areas. and we believe we have tackled those areas. we've also passed that information onto the african police service. is half the park corrupt? no. simple as that? simple as that. and you know that? i know that. 0k. there's been corru ptions of allegations at management level, as well. equally so, are you confident that is the case? well, look, there's always areas that you can, you know... it depends on where you're looking at, and it depends on the information. but at the moment, in terms of management, we're confident we have good management in the park. managing private parks is not as difficult.

they are smaller, easier to secure, and rhino dehorning is more practical. darting from the air was going to plan. the pilot uses the helicopter downdraught to guide the darted rhino into the open, close to the road, before the drugs kick in. come on, guys. we need more people there. the clock is ticking, and there is a lot to do. keep turning. keep turning, 100% right. the rhino has turned awkwardly. he needs to be turned across the slope. they weigh over a ton. they have 20 minutes to work and gather data, but the quicker they are, the better it is for the rhino, a bulky satellite tracker secured on the animal's foot while the horn is being prepared. we won't remove a lot... it was last cut 18 months ago,

but that is still worthwhile for poachers. so you can only remove probably an inch and a half of it. so it'll take it back down to its base, but not getting down to the growth tissue. and even that is an attractive amount of horn that is left on the animal, so there still are cases where animals are being lost. extreme measures for extreme times. what we've seen is it's not necessarily the poorest of the poor that are involved in poaching. it's not confined to that anymore. we've got sophisticated syndicates operating, and transnational syndicates. these people are well resourced, and therefore they have a significant capacity to negotiate with people on the ground who might be very vulnerable to corruption. it looks and sounds harsh, but it is painless to the animal. it is like trimming fingernails. in fact, it is the same material as fingernails, keratin. and that's what makes this whole

trade even more unbelievable. there is no evidence the horn has any medicinal value, the main reason for demand in asia. but yet, still, even these shavings are worth a fortune. well, this is the point that has been reached, where these animals have to have their horns removed in order for them to have more chance of survival. a lot of the private parks are doing this all the time now, but in places like hluhluwe?imfolozi park, they don't do this, and that makes them even more of a target for poachers. how long do i have, once i've done this? three to four minutes. 0k, good. that is a complete reversal. all right, guys. if we can make our way to the vehicle. groggy, confused, but otherwise fine. dehorning is time—consuming and expensive, but it is making a difference, giving at least some

hope to the private reserves. but, as we'll see, corruption not only casts a long shadow across this area and its wildlife, but its courtrooms as well. hluhluwe—imfolozi park, the original home of the white rhino, is now at the centre of the storm, and according to whistleblowers and activists, much of the problem lies within parts of the judiciary. 0ur nonprofit, saving the wild, is focused on exposing and eradicating corruption involved in rhino poaching. so how bad is the corruption? it's a cesspit of corruption, it's massive. jamiejoseph is an activist and investigator who has covered extensive evidence of corruption. inside kwazulu—natal,

there is an alleged syndicate of magistrates and prosecutors that are taking bribes in rhino poaching cases. over 2.5 years, she and a former antipoaching policeman, jean—pierre roux, uncovered what they call a blacklist of corruption, as they tried to bring down the suspected rhino horn kingpin. in fact, police are targeted when they go after high—level targets. i specialise in infiltrating rhino poaching syndicates and working on the higher, higher—ranking members of the groups, of the syndicates. and, making use of cooperation, we were quite successful in curbing rhino poaching through that way. jean—pierre was fired from the police endangered species investigation unit on an administrative matter which he is currently challenging.

why did you leave yourjob? it was not by choice. we suspect we got too close to some of the higher syndicate members, with possible links to government. the suspects were being warned by policemen, and notjust policemen — policemen, prosecutors, magistrates. i personally interviewed sources who explained to me why i was not getting proper convictions in some of my matters. they call their source ‘fresh'. he signed an affidavit and passed a lie detector test. he claims the uncle he worked for, the lawyer welcome ngwenya, was part of a large, corrupt syndicate, and he was told to deliver the bribes. mr ngwenya denies paying bribes, and has told the bbc he knows nothing about this.

does that work sometimes? i would give money to most of his friends, and most of his friends are magistrates, lawyers, prosecutors. so they can make the case easier for him orfor the person. if you want your case to be returned, or if you want everything tojust disappear, you just go to him. what about magistrates? same thing, same procedure. so most of the time they come and get the money in his garage, or we will go to them. they will come and drink with them. even after court, they will sit with him in his car, and speak with him and talk about the case. what is the most, i suppose, the biggest of those cases that ngwenya was involved in, or that he has been involved in? i think dumisani gwala. he is the biggest one that i know of. when gwala was arrested in december 2014, a spokesperson for that special operation said that about 80% of the horns are going through his hands. gwala has weakened since, since we are chipping away

at his syndicates, and one of gwala's strengths is that he never goes to jail. he has been arrested many times, but evidence goes missing, and the case goes missing. gwala pleaded not guilty, was granted bail, and has appeared in court more than 20 times since then. their source, ‘fresh,’ makes detailed claims about the amounts of cash they claim were paid by him to his uncle. the testimony indicates a network of magistrates and lawyers. a senior officer believes ‘fresh' is providing credible allegations, which are serious and need investigating. his lawyer, mpume linda, was also accused by ‘fresh' of being part of this corrupt syndicate, something she denies. are you the rhino horn kingpin that people make you out to be?

have you dealt in rhino horn at all? have you been involved in poachers? so are you this kingpin that people talk about? so can i ask you, are you being protected by officials in south africa? is there corruption in the courts that is leading to these delays? ma'am, ms linda, you have been accused of corruption. do you have a response to that? would you like to say anything about that, ms linda? thank you very much. so the court has been postponed many times before. it is now going to trial tomorrow, at a different court. but gwala's lawyer, ms linda, has stepped down from being his lawyer, which suggests there could be further delays to come. gwala's trial is now scheduled for november, but saving the wild says the corruption does not stop there. it goes up to another level, and the other level is a regional court president.

he is the one who is responsible for appointing all these magistrates, so it is two levels. and this is when we start talking about a syndicate. these are big accusations — that the most senior magistrate took money from lawyers he appointed as acting magistrates. eric nzimande is being investigated by the magistrates commission, and told the bbc, i can't respond to something unless there is a formal charge against me, and then i will go to court. ultimate responsibility for appointing magistrates lies with the deputyjustice minister. are you aware of an investigation specifically into the magistrate? i am aware of an investigation, yes, into him. not specifically linked to the rhinos, but relating to other matters. and other magistrates, as well, as part of that investigation? yes, i have been told that there are some investigations, yes, relating to rhinos involving prosecutors and lawyers. is there any suggestion that this could be linked to people who are higher up in the levels of

provincial and national government? no, not that i am aware of. unfortunately, investigations into the magistrates do take time. an unpublished magistrates court document seen by the bbc provides evidence that eric nzimande received payments from fresh's uncle, as well as other magistrates. the report says it appears to have a pattern of racketeering activity, with a definite system of command. the police handed theirfindings to the director of public prosecutions at least nine months ago, but so far nothing has happened. the cost of corruption can be measured by the carcasses of dead rhinos, and the orphans they leave behind. but it also impacts all of society.

it allows poachers to act with impunity, and it compromises the police and the justice system, notjust in poaching cases. the poaching of rhino horn has been assisted by the climate of corruption that exists in south africa. for poachers to get to the rhino, they have to corrupt somebody. these are some of the survivors, still crying out for their mothers. more rhino orphanages are opening to cope with the need to rear them and eventually to try and reintroduce them to the wild. i must be honest. at times, i get tremendously angry with the human rights groups. i want to strangle people, and worse. it brings out the worst in me. so it doesn't say much for the human race. greed, corruption, and the desire for powdered keratin,

fingernails, are all very human traits, that continue to wipe out one of the planet's oldest and most iconic species. hello they are, good morning. last weekend we had the remnants of tropical storm debbie. this weekend it is the turn of ernesto so we will get that in a moment. ahead of that, generally cloudy skies across most parts of the uk on saturday and more cloud coming in from the atlantic. this is not it is that cloud that has been bringing the rain in from the atlantic with the remnants of that earlier tropical storm. some heavy rain for a while. i think very quickly we will see the wetter weather moving away. still quite muggy on sunday. for many parts of the country, sunshine will be at a premium. some heavy rain still

for a while across central and southern scotland and northern england. that should move out into the north sea. a few pockets of light rain and drizzle for a while, extending down into the midlands perhaps. 0n the whole, cloudy and dry in the afternoon, limited sunshine for england and wales. more of that for northern ireland and northern and western scotland. temperatures cooler in scotland, highs of 22 or 23 in and wales. a muggy feel really will continue into the evening and overnight. maybe more breaks in the cloud beginning to filter down into england and wales. lots of cloud coming in. that will keep the temperature is coming up. it might be a warmer night across the northern half of scotland as well. here we find pockets of rain and drizzle around on monday. further drizzle south around weston hills and coasts. best of the sunshine in this generally cloudy airstream is going to be across the more sheltered eastern parts of england and wales. temperatures as high as 25 or 26. doesn't need much sunshine. it will feel quite warm. humid air mass across the uk,

south of this string of weather fronts. high pressure in the south, the nexus of arriving in the north—west on tuesday. that rain will turn out to be a bit heavy on the north—west of scotland later in the day. ahead of it elsewhere, probably a bit more sunshine around. still some areas of cloud, mind you, and a muggy feeling with temperatures around the mid—20s at best. now, that weather system is going to bring some rain. most of it will be closer to the centre of low pressure driving it and the cold front, that weather front there, moves southwards behind it. that north—westerly airflow will drag down cooler and fresher air. probably more sunshine across scotland, northern ireland and northern england, perhaps as far south as mid wales and the midlands. more southern parts of england and wales we are still in that cloudy, muggierairstream and it's here we will higher temperatures once again looking ahead to the san friday, more weak weather fronts arriving in the north—west. they don't really bring much rain

further south but eventually fresher air arrives in the south—east of england. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: world leaders pay tribute to the former un secretary general kofi annan, who has died in switzerland aged 80. ecuador bans venezuela ns from entering without a passport, trapping thousands of people trying to flee hardship at home. it has been called a 100—year flood, but more heavy rain is forecast in india's southern state of kerala. a state funeral for many of the victims of italy's bridge collapse, as more bodies are found in the rubble.