Controversial figure Stuart James Scharnick may have taken on more than he can handle after laying criminal charges against Crime Intelligence head, Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo.
Scharnick opened the case at the Pretoria Central Police Station on Wednesday, accusing Khumalo of defamation. This follows Khumalo’s testimony before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, where he claimed Scharnick was linked to 18 cases of car hijacking.
Speaking outside the police station, Scharnick dismissed the allegations, saying:
“Khumalo lied and presented me as a carjacker. I have never hijacked a car. I was found guilty once for a minor car theft, and now Khumalo is painting me like a dangerous criminal.”
However, police in KwaZulu-Natal, where Scharnick resides, expressed alarm at his assertions that official SAPS records show only a single conviction.
Addressing the media on Thursday, Acting Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Crime Detection, Major General Anthony Gopaul, revealed that investigators had discovered irregularities in Scharnick’s file.
“We needed to address this claim that SAPS is tarnishing someone’s reputation. The record speaks for itself,” Gopaul said.
He confirmed that an internal probe is underway after it was found that one SAPS employee deleted Scharnick’s criminal records from the system in January this year. The deleted data, however, remained in the system’s back end, allowing investigators to recover it.
Authorities are now probing whether the staff member acted independently or under instruction.
Gopaul also confirmed that the unit responsible for criminal records is housed within the office of suspended national police commissioner, Shadrack Sibiya, a development raising further questions about internal interference.
Scharnick, whose name surfaced publicly as Sibiya’s alleged bodyguard, denied any such role, insisting he only provides “legal assistance.”
“Assisting with evidence doesn’t make me a lawyer or an informant,” Scharnick told Newsnote. “I’m helping articulate matters I have knowledge of.”
Gopaul concluded:
“Until Mr. Scharnick went public attacking SAPS and General Khumalo, we had not revisited his file. Now, we are examining his profile closely.”
The investigation continues as both the Madlanga Commission and the SAPS internal review probe the web of allegations surrounding Scharnick, Sibiya, and top police officials.