SCHABIR Shaik was taken back to prison yesterday as authorities investigate allegations that he violated his parole conditions.

This is an unlikely turn of events for the man who has a hotline to President Jacob Zuma . The Shaik family had prided itself on the good choice they made when they stood by Mr Zuma during the difficult struggle days .

When the Shaik-Zuma bond was cemented in the 1970s, no one could have foreseen that Mr Zuma would become the president of SA . But the Shaiks were there as his benefactors. The brothers were central to Mr Zuma’s private and family life, even picking up his many bills, including one for a car wash, and also helping look after some of his 2 0-plus children.

Ironically, Shaik went to jail after being convicted of corruption in circumstances that almost derailed Mr Zuma’s bid for the presidency. Ultimately, Shaik emerged as the saviour, albeit a reluctant one, who was sacrificed for Mr Zuma. Former president Thabo Mbeki latched on to Shaik’s conviction and used it to fire the country’s then deputy president.

Fraud charges were to follow, in what Mr Zuma’s backers called political persecution. It took a sustained political and legal campaign for him to get back into the running for president. As he prepared to occupy the Union Buildings, Mr Zuma indicated that he had not forgotten his friend , who was then in prison and who was trying his damndest to be a free man again.

Mr Zuma said he would consider granting Shaik, serving a 15-year sentence, a presidential pardon if his application fell within the law. Given Shaik’s ill health, he should have been released long ago, said Mr Zuma in a 2009 interview with Business Day’s sister paper, The Weekender, 10 weeks before he became president.

"Not just because of my sympathy, but because of the laws of the country," said Mr Zuma. "If it had been someone other than Schabir, he would have been out by now. The prison authorities described to me a report given by professors who had come to check on him, professors from the medical aid company checking to see if he is cheating by being in hospital. These professors said to the prison authorities that they are sitting on a time bomb, this man could go any time. This is the law. Once people are sick at a particular level, there are options."

Shaik was later released on a questionable medical parole, on the grounds that he was terminally ill. However, Shaik is again headed for the cells and it would have mattered little that he once had a powerful friend in the president.

Shaik would surely have pondered that his old friend has since found new best friends in the form of the Gupta brothers.

While many in the ANC are unhappy at the significant influence that the Guptas have on Mr Zuma, the Shaik family would perhaps have pondered the fact that their loss is the Guptas’ gain.

Mo Shaik faced the scorn of the ANC under Mr Mbeki when he pushed the allegation that then director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid spy. His testimony ended in a teary apology to Mr Mbeki and the nation.

He retreated, and went underground to work towards Mr Zuma’s crowning. He was central to spreading word that Mr Zuma was presidential material, and may have had a hand in the "spy tapes" that freed Mr Zuma from criminal charges, allowing him to become president. The elder Mr Shaik was duly rewarded with a post as the head of the South African Secret Service.

It is possible that Schabir Shaik’s alleged violent outbursts in the past few weeks were the rantings of an attention-seeker who feels abandoned by a dear friend. But his behaviour might draw little sympathy from a president deep in survival mode as he is bashed for his friendship with the Guptas.

However, would it be surprising if Shaik is freed within hours of his reincarceration?

With acknowledgements to Sam Mkokeli and Business Day.

Sitting on a time bomb, this man could go off at any time.

But this time he did it all himself.

And there really is no need.

He lives in a large luxury house on large grounds in the best part of Durban.

He still earns huge amounts of money (millions of Rands per year) from his Cell C shares and other contracts given to him by his other mate Mac Maharaj (him of yet another started and uncompleted NPA investigation).

He is allowed to get out of the house to go shopping, go to church and playing golf.

Surely he's got the best cellphones and fastest ADSL connection to check his share prices and order Havana cigars online.

But no, he prefers to embarrass his benefactor and allow himself back to where he belongs.

Along with JayZed and Pierre Moynot.

The three medical profs who averred under oath that he was terminal are charlatans who should be stripped of their ranks and their registrations at the Health Professionals Council before joining the other criminals in the Pen.

Just two more needed for two contract bridge schools in Westville.

Leonard McCarthy would be a good candidate, as would whoever it was who slipped those NPA tape recordings to the Z-Team.

Indeed, one could fill up the whole of Westville Prison with all the criminals involved with this affair.

Thabo can count himself lucky that he's slouched off the radar.