Taking the Waters Schabir Shaik loves getting rid of stress in the pool at his new home

Embattled businessman Schabir Shaik and his wife have put their luxurious beachfront penthouse on the market for R2.6-million.

Shaik, charged with two counts of corruption, fraud and a contravention of a section of the Income Tax Act, appeared in the Durban District Court on Monday. He said he and his wife had shared the penthouse for more than 10 years.

The couple had decided to sell it because they no longer felt safe there after a raid by the Scorpions on October 9 2001 and a break-in a few months later.

Shaik, who described himself as "a poor fellow six years ago", said the penthouse was owned by his wife. "Now that I've built up my own money, I bought my own home in Berea. It's a home that I like, it's a lifestyle home. It's got my gym, my sauna. I'm not one to be lavish and have two, three properties like many other wealthy people. We've outlived this place. When my brothers come here with their kids, they can't run around freely like they can on grass or dive into a pool. So I bought a house with a pool. I love swimming. I swim a lot to de-stress."

The penthouse, which boasts three bedrooms and two lounges, is on the Marine Parade on Durban's North Beach.

Shaik said the raid by the Scorpions and the subsequent break-in made him realise that the apartment was not safe.

He said there had been a few inquiries about the penthouse, but he and his wife were still waiting for the right offer.

In November 2001, Shaik was arrested after minutes of a secret Cabinet meeting were found in his possession.

Last week Scorpions boss Bulelani Ngcuka announced that Deputy President Jacob Zuma would not face prosecution for allegedly soliciting R500 000 from a French arms company, but that Shaik and his Nkobi group of companies would be prosecuted.

Shaik said all the attention had made him feel like an actor in a soap opera.

"I'm so happy to be in the centre of everybody's lives. It's not like Isidingo, it's like our own version of Dallas. And I'm JR."

He added that the way things were going, his shoe size would also become of interest.

He said his success was not because of Zuma or anybody else *, but because of the "Lord's blessings".

Shaik questioned why so much emphasis had been placed on him and Zuma.

"I don't think the whole issue is about the arms. I think it's not even so much about Zuma. There are other currents that are flowing that, if we lose sight, if we don't ask these deep questions, we will never know what evil pervades our society, what evil pervades our government."

* His success with the R2 599 000 001 Corvette Combat Suite and/or R500 000 000 (?) Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) contract was not because of the fact that his brother was the Department of Defence's Chief of Acquisitions from 1998 to 2002.

With the sophisticated DoD, Armscor and MINCOM mechanisms in place for regulation of conflicts of interest, recusal and acquisition management during this time, it would have been just about impossible (but not absolutely impossible?).

With acknowledgements to Ilse Fredericks and the Sunday Times.