During apartheid, Shaik practiced as an optometrist and worked in the underground structures of the African National Congress (ANC) in Natal province, reporting to Umkhonto weSizwe commander Jacob Zuma.

[2] His father, Lambie,[3] was an upholsterer, a Muslim, and an Indian South African from Pietermaritzburg in Natal; his mother, Rabia,[3] was half-white and died in a car accident when he was a child.

[2] The Shaik brothers lived in a Coloured area of Durban but attended a school designated for Indians under the strict racial classifications of apartheid South Africa.

[2] After matriculating, Shaik earned a Bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Durban-Westville,[2] where he became involved in student politics and the Natal Indian Congress.

[5][10][13] Shaik was widely identified as a personal friend, close associate, and political supporter of his former MK comrade Jacob Zuma during and after the latter's tenure as Deputy President of South Africa from 1999 to 2005.

[20] Instead, on 2 October 2009, Shaik was appointed head of the South African Secret Service, the foreign intelligence wing of the new State Security Agency.

[10][14] The Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus, both opposition parties, condemned his appointment, primarily because of Shaik's perceived political links to Zuma.

[24][25][26] He confirmed this in 2019;[23] he said that one source of tension had been Cwele's instruction to abort an intelligence investigation into the Gupta family, who later were widely suspected of involvement in state capture under Zuma's administration.

[5] The Sunday Times reported that his appointment had been facilitated by Pravin Gordhan, who was the Minister of Finance and oversaw the bank, on behalf of Zuma's presidential office.

[28] In January 2020, Shaik and Menzi Simelane were appointed as special advisers to Lindiwe Sisulu, who was then the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation.