Richards Bay construction businessman; named in evidence as Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya's personal protector while not employed by the police · Richards Bay / Johannesburg
Named in evidence · charged
The private citizen the Crime Intelligence head said was guarding the country's deputy national police commissioner, and the only person so far arrested at the commission's own front door. Stuart James Scharnick, 40, has been in construction in Richards Bay since 2005 and had no public profile until November 2025, when Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo told the Madlanga Commission that he was Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya's personal protector despite not being employed by the South African Police Service, that Sibiya regularly used a vehicle Scharnick owned, and that Scharnick himself had 34 cases recorded against his name, most of them vehicle hijackings, of which 18 had ended in conviction, 11 had been withdrawn and five in acquittal. Major-General Anthony Gopaul, then acting deputy provincial commissioner in KwaZulu-Natal, told the same commission that those records had been expunged by an employee at Durban's criminal record centre on 16 January 2025. Scharnick has rejected all of it in public. In an interview on 4 November 2025 he denied being anyone's bodyguard, said he had never worked in the security industry, and said the convictions Khumalo counted arise from a single vehicle-scheme matter more than a decade old; he later opened criminal cases against Khumalo, calling the allegations 'borderline idiotic'. He says he met Sibiya around 2022 over unsolved murders in Richards Bay and that he lent Sibiya an armoured vehicle after the police withdrew his protection. On 20 August 2026 Scharnick was arrested outside the Bridgette Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria, where the commission sits, after Sowetan journalist Herman Moloi laid an intimidation complaint over a confrontation during a tea break. He was subsequently charged before the Randburg Magistrate's Court with contraventions of the Firearms Control Act, held in custody, and granted R5,000 bail on 9 September 2026. Nothing here is a finding. Khumalo's and Gopaul's evidence is untested testimony that Scharnick disputes, he has pleaded to nothing, and he is presumed innocent.
Stuart ScharnickStuart James ScharnickScharnickShadrack SibiyaFirearms Control ActMadlanga Commission
This profile summarises testimony and evidence given on the public record before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. It restates allegations as presented at the hearings and is not a finding of guilt, liability, or wrongdoing by any person.
Awaiting appearanceNo portrait on the public record yet
Their role
What the record says
Named from the stand as Sibiya's protector while outside the police service
In November 2025 Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo told the commission that Scharnick acted as Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya's personal protector although he was not employed by the SAPS, and that Sibiya frequently used a vehicle registered to Scharnick. Scharnick denied it within days, saying he has never worked in the security industry and is not anyone's bodyguard, and describing his link to Sibiya as an ordinary acquaintance dating to about 2022 over unsolved murders in Richards Bay. He has said he made an armoured vehicle available to Sibiya after the police withdrew his official protection. Sibiya has said he did not know Scharnick had had run-ins with the law. None of this has been tested to a finding; all concerned are presumed innocent.
A criminal record described from the stand, and then found to have been erased
Khumalo's November 2025 evidence put 34 recorded cases against Scharnick's name, most of them vehicle hijackings, with 18 convictions, 11 withdrawals and five acquittals. Major-General Anthony Gopaul told the commission that an employee at the Durban criminal record centre expunged those records on 16 January 2025, and that ten vehicle-theft and eight carjacking matters were linked to Scharnick. KwaZulu-Natal police afterwards said they were investigating both the record and his firearm licence. Scharnick's answer is that the convictions all flow from one vehicle-scheme case more than a decade ago and that the count is misleading. He has opened criminal cases against Khumalo over the allegations, which he called 'borderline idiotic'. The expungement is the subject of a police investigation; no person has been charged over it, and Scharnick has not been found to have procured it.
Arrested outside the commission after a journalist laid an intimidation complaint
On 20 August 2026, during a tea break at the Bridgette Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria where the commission sits, Sowetan journalist Herman Moloi filmed Scharnick in conversation with suspended National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams, who was then giving evidence. Moloi's account is that Scharnick objected to being filmed and confronted him, saying 'even yesterday, you took videos of me and posted on social media', to which Moloi answered 'yesterday I didn't take any video of you'. Moloi laid a criminal complaint and Scharnick was arrested outside the venue the same day. Commission spokesperson Jeremy Michaels said of the incident: 'We will not tolerate this.' Moloi wrote afterwards that he would 'now allow the law to take its course'. The intimidation complaint is an allegation; Scharnick has not been convicted of anything arising from it.
Firearms charges, custody, and R5,000 bail
Scharnick was charged before the Randburg Magistrate's Court with contraventions of the Firearms Control Act. The National Prosecuting Authority listed failing to notify the Central Firearms Registry of a change of residential address and storing a firearm otherwise than in a prescribed safe; The Citizen reported a third count of unlawfully giving another person access to his firearm. He was remanded in custody, and on 9 September 2026 the court granted him R5,000 bail over the state's objection. He must hand his passport to the investigating officer and notify that officer if he moves out of Gauteng or leaves the country; the court refused the state's request that he report weekly to Randburg police station, finding he was not a flight risk. NPA spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole said the authority 'remains committed to ensuring that matters involving alleged firearms-related offences are prosecuted fairly, efficiently, and in accordance with the law'. Bail is not a verdict. Scharnick has pleaded to nothing and is presumed innocent.
Timeline
How the account unfolded
Nov 2025
Named at the commission
Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo tells the commission that Scharnick is Sibiya's personal protector while not employed by the SAPS, and describes 34 recorded cases against him. Major-General Anthony Gopaul says the records were expunged on 16 January 2025.
4 Nov 2025
He denies it publicly
Scharnick says he has never worked in the security industry, is not Sibiya's bodyguard, and that the 18 convictions come from a single vehicle-scheme matter more than a decade old.
12 Nov 2025
He goes after his accuser
Scharnick opens criminal cases against Khumalo, describing the allegations against him as 'borderline idiotic'.
20 Aug 2026
Arrested at the commission's venue
Sowetan journalist Herman Moloi lays an intimidation complaint after a confrontation during a tea break at the Bridgette Mabandla Justice College. Scharnick is arrested outside the building the same day.
9 Sep 2026
Granted R5,000 bail
The Randburg Magistrate's Court grants bail on the Firearms Control Act charges over the state's objection, with passport and travel conditions, and refuses the state's request for weekly police reporting.