Durban - Bianca Singh met corruption-trial accused Schabir Shaik in 1996 when she went to have a pizza at a Durban-beachfront restaurant with her boyfriend and other friends.

She had finished matric the previous year and had no job at the time.

According to Singh, Shaik approached her in the restaurant and gave her his business card.

"He said I could contact him if I needed a job. He didn't know anyone in our party," she testified in Durban on Monday.

Singh went to Nkobi Holdings's office for a job interview, and Shaik appointed her as a secretary on June 6 1996.

She said she had "no qualifications - only matric".

She became Shaik's personal assistant in 1998. He apparently wanted to train her as a project manager at Nkobi and promised she would see the world.

"We had an intimate relationship. He said our relationship would be the same as the one he had with the ministers."

Singh left Nkobi in May 1999 because she "got to a point where I could no longer work for him (Shaik)".

According to Singh, Shaik humiliated her in front of clients and yelled at her.

In 2000, she returned to Nkobi after Shaik had asked her to come back and had promised to treat her better.

After an "incident" in Mauritius in November 2000, Singh resigned again and decided "never to return".

With acknowledgements to Adriaan Basson, Iaine Harper and the Beeld.