[1][2] His father was an Indian South African from Pietermaritzburg in Natal; his mother was half-white and died in a car accident when he was a child.
[3][4] At the same time, Shaik worked as a lecturer in the electrical engineering department at Peninsula Techikon until he resigned in 1986 because the institution raised questions about the veracity of his claim to hold a Hawaiian degree certificate.
[5] He pursued a Master's diploma in engineering at the ML Sultan Technikon but left in 1990 after he was suspended for one year because, according to the institution, he cheated on an exam.
[7] Shaik's companies were based in the new province of KwaZulu-Natal and ultimately encompassed broad interests in defence, information technology, and infrastructure.
The contract was to produce South African driving licenses in a new card format and it was cancelled in 2013,[9][10] although KobiTech was expelled from the consortium before then in 2007.
[5][16] In May 2002, Shaik appeared in court on charges that he illegally possessed classified minutes of President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet; the documents were seized in a Scorpions raid.
Zuma had been elected Chairperson of the African National Congress, and Shaik assisted him financially, mostly in the form of interest-free loans with no date of repayment.
The shareholding went through various permutations subsequently, however Shaik was at all relevant times a director of, and exercised effective control over, all the corporate entities within the Nkobi group.
[19] However, the court ruled that there might be a constitutional issue related to the seizure of assets belonging to him and his company, and granted leave to appeal on that point.
[21][22][23][24] The head of cardiology at Inkosi Albert Lutuli hospital in Durban, Professor DP Naidoo, personally discharged Shaik in December 2008 because he was considered well enough to leave.
[25] There have been several accusations of Shaik violating the terms of his parole – including staying at Thanda Private Game Reserve for three nights in June 2009.