Lawyer and ZANU PF Member of Parliament for Mudzi South Jonathan Samukange has dumped his client Saviour Kasukuwere claiming that representing him in a corruption case is retrogressive and puts him in a conflict of interest situation.

Samukange’s withdrawal from representing former Local Government minister and G40 kingpin Kasukuwere in a criminal abuse of office case comes amid huge pressure from members of the ZANU PF Youth League in Mashonaland East province who accused him of being unpatriotic by representing Kasukuwere who was ousted from the party.

Provincial youth spokesperson Micklam Mhingidzi last week said the party viewed Kasukuwere as an enemy of President Emmerson Mnangagwa because of his G40 faction links when he was the ruling party’s national political commissar under former President Robert Mugabe.

“We are saying, if the President wants all corrupt people to face the full wrath of the law, as the youth league, we are surprised as to why Samukange, who is a member of the Zanu PF, is defending them,” he said.

Kasukuwere was granted $3 000 bail by Harare regional magistrate Hosea Mujaya on accusations that he fraudulently parcelled out vast tracts of land to former First Lady Grace Mugabe’s sister, Shuvai Gumbochuma, among others.

Asked to comment on other Zanu PF officials who engage lawyers who are often opposition party officials, Mhingidzi said Samkange’s case was different, as he was a ruling party MP, therefore, should not defend those accused of graft, as this could be seen as defying the party leader’s vision.

“What we are saying is that these other lawyers are not indebted to Zanu PF. But the honourable (Samkange) is Zanu PF,” Mhingidzi said.