South Africa police raid ex-deputy president's home

By Andrew Quinn

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African police staged a series of raids on Thursday targeting former Deputy President Jacob Zuma, whose sacking in a corruption scandal has shaken the ruling African National Congress.

Investigators from the elite FBI-style Scorpions unit swooped on Zuma's Johannesburg home early on Thursday, searching the premises for about four hours and leaving with several boxes, witnesses said.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman Makhosini Nkosi confirmed that "search and seizure" operations took place in four provinces across the country.

"This was part of the ongoing investigation into corruption allegations against former Deputy President Jacob Zuma," Nkosi said, declining to confirm specific targets of the operation he said aimed to gather further evidence for the state's case.

"We already have a case that can sustain a prosecution ... it is procedural to go through the search and seizures to gather as much evidential material as possible," he told reporters.

Zuma, widely popular and once seen as the frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki when he completes his term in 2009, was fired in June following the corruption conviction of his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik.

Zuma was later charged with two counts of corruption and faces trial in October. He has denied any wrongdoing and suggested he was the victim of a vendetta by his political foes.

One of his lawyers accused the government of scrambling for evidence to back up its case.

"We are convinced that the state has embarked on a tactic of charge and investigate later. It seems that the state is engaging in a fishing expedition," attorney Michael Hulley told the SAPA news agency following the police raids.

The powerful COSATU labour federation, an official partner of the ANC in government, this week urged Mbeki to reinstate Zuma as his deputy and stop the trial against him -- a demand that was swiftly rejected.

COSATU on Thursday accused the Scorpions of "systematic, brutal persecution" of Zuma, saying the raids were a direct response to the union's support for a man long seen as champion of the labour movement.

"This provides more evidence that the NPA and the judicial system are capable of being manipulated and influenced to take biased political decisions and actions," COSATU Secretary General Zwelinzima Vavi told a news conference.

FIGHTING CORRUPTION

Zuma's sacking as deputy president was widely hailed as proof of Mbeki's determination to set an example for the rest of Africa by fighting official corruption, a vexing topic for international donors, lenders and companies.

But it opened splits within the ANC, where Zuma remains party deputy president with a large following among the rank and file, particularly those who feel Mbeki's market-oriented policies have left South Africa's poor behind.

Local reports said simultaneous raids were made on Thursday on Zuma's rural homestead in KwaZulu-Natal, the Durban home and office of Shaik, the Durban office of Zuma's lawyer and the home of a senior KwaZulu-Natal provincial politician linked to Zuma.

The raid in Johannesburg was interrupted when armed members of the VIP security detail assigned to Zuma arrived at the house and ordered investigators to stop their work, witnesses said.

After a brief standoff, the police search resumed and Zuma was later spotted showing investigators around the grounds.

Shaik was found guilty of soliciting an annual 500,000 rand bribe for Zuma from a French arms firm in return for protecting it from a probe into a massive arms deal.

He was also convicted of paying Zuma 1.3 million rand in bribes to encourage him to use his political influence to further Shaik's business interests. Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but remains free on appeal.