By Thokozani Mtshali, Moshoeshoe Monare, Angela Quintal and Sapa
While all eyes were on former deputy president Jacob Zuma's Johannesburg home on Thursday, about 60km away the highest executive office in the land was also being raided by the elite Scorpions unit.
In an unprecedented move the Scorpions swooped on the Union Buildings in Pretoria, as well as the Tuynhuys office in Cape Town.
In Pretoria they occupied a large part of the second floor, in which most of Zuma's former offices and staff were based. Among the offices targeted was that of Zuma's former spokesperson, Lakela Kaunda, who continues to be employed in the office under new Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
By 8pm, the Scorpions had yet to complete their search at the Union Buildings and had yet to search Kaunda's office.
The president was attending a heads of government summit in Botswana and returned home at 6pm.
Mlambo-Ngcuka was in Cape Town for an ANC political committee meeting in parliament and a memorial service for late ANC stalwart Christmas Tinto.
The registry of executive members' interests was also searched.
The Executive Members' Act requires cabinet ministers and members of the executive to disclose details of their assets, financial affairs, gifts and benefits.
According to government officials, the Scorpions focused mainly on the registry section.
This is where most details of all correspondence to and from the presidency are recorded.
It is also where letters and faxes are recorded and details of senders, recipients and main messages kept.
The head of the presidency's communications, Murphy Morobe, confirmed that the presidency's offices in Pretoria and Cape Town were being searched.
About 6.30am on Thursday gun-wielding Scorpions entered Zuma's home in Forest Town.
The Scorpions ended their search of this home shortly after noon and sped off with two computer hard drives and two boxes filled with papers and notes.
The Scorpions, who were looking for evidence that might be relevant to Zuma's impending corruption trial, also raided the former deputy president's traditional homestead in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Scorpions confirmed that searches had also been carried out of the Durban home of Zuma's financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, and lawyers Julie Mahomed and Michael Hulley.
Several residences and offices in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, the Western Cape and Mpumalanga were searched, including the home of Zweli Mkhize, MEC for Economic Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, and the home and offices of Pierre Moynot, the managing director of Thint, the African division of French arms company Thales, formerly known as CSF-Thomson.
In June, Justice Hilary Squires found that Zuma, 63, was aware of Shaik's efforts to facilitate a R500 000-a-year payment from Thint Holdings in return for protection during a possible investigation into South Africa's arms deal.
Zuma was fired by President Thabo Mbeki after Judge Squires found there was a "generally corrupt" relationship between him and Shaik.
Shortly afterwards, Zuma was charged with two counts of corruption. He is to appear in the Durban Magistrate's Court again on October 11.
Cosatu, some of whose leaders have called for Zuma's reinstatement, said yesterday the "political prosecution" of Zuma had begun to create divisions in its tripartite alliance with the ANC and SA Communist Party.
"The political prosecution of Jacob Zuma risks plunging our new democracy into turmoil," said Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
Hulley said the state was using tactics of charge and investigate later.
"It seems the state is engaging in a fishing expedition.
"For the past five years, the state has had the opportunity to investigate this case. These matters ought to have been dealt with long ago."
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) denied there were sinister motives.
Spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the searches were normal procedure "to obtain as much evidence as possible".
The Pretoria High Court had granted an order authorising them on August 12.
"Inasfar as the evidence at our disposal is concerned, we have enoughto make out a case," said Nkosi.
He did not rule out more searches, however.
Material gathered would be analysed by investigators over the next "several weeks", Nkosi told reporters in Pretoria.
He declined to give details of the premises searched or of the individuals concerned, other than confirming that Zuma and Shaik were among them.
Shaik was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison after being found guilty of corruption and fraud.
Mahomed and Mkhize were called as witnesses at Shaik's trial.
Mahomed was the lawyer who had dawn up a so-called "revolving loan" agreement between Shaik and Zuma in 1999.
No original copy of this agreement has been found.
The agreement was produced in support of defence arguments that Zuma had not taken money as a gift from Shaik and had intended to repay it.
Mohamed is considering contesting the validity of the warrant allowing the Scorpions to raid her home and offices.
She said she had gone with Scorpions investigators to the high court, where the documents were handed to the registrar.
She had not seen the founding affidavit submitted to the judge who issued the warrant for the raid on her home and offices and would have to study it before deciding whether to make an urgent application to the court to have the documents returned.
She said she had no idea what investigators were looking for. "They are going through everything."
Mahomed would not say what type of documents had been seized.
Hulley, standing outside Zuma's Johannesburg home, said that the warrant appeared to be lawful.
He had not seen a copy of the founding affidavit and was waiting to obtain a copy.
He said the warrant was a two-page document explaining the need for documentation that related to the charge Zuma faced.
Hulley said it was clear that the raids were an "evidence- gaining mechanism" that were employed after his client had been charged.
The NPA should have gathered all relevant information before charging Zuma.
Mkhize's evidence was related to his tenure as treasurer-general of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.
Nelson Mandela had given R2-million to Zuma, half of which was intended for the Jacob Zuma Education Trust Fund and the other half for a company called Development Africa.
Development Africa was a trust fund set up to deal with welfare issues not strictly in the budget of the ANC.
Shaik has claimed that when he saw the remaining R1m in Zuma's account he had no idea what it was for, however, and used it for various payments, including the payment of debts in his own company. Those debts were mainly linked to Zuma, his trial was told.
Shaik owes R500 000 to Development Africa.