Seymour to Veto Olympic Debate in Tit for Tat over South Africa

"Parliament’s priorities are seriously warped as it seeks to congratulate our Winter Olympians while ignoring the fact that South Africa’s new president wishes to steal white farmers’ land”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

Seymour has told other parties he will object to a snap debate to congratulate Olympians after Labour and New Zealand First said they would veto Seymour’s proposed motion condemning the South African legislation to expropriate white people’s land.

The South African National Assembly has passed a motion to have the Constitution amended in order to intensify the expropriation of land without compensation. The role of a Parliament should be to uphold property rights, but the South African Government is expropriating them. They risk inciting violence and a Zimbabwe-style total collapse into total poverty, and a flood of refugees to New Zealand.

“I’m as proud of our Olympians as any Kiwi, but all New Zealanders need a Parliament that has its priorities straight.

"New Zealand has strong cultural ties with South Africa. The country is our fifth largest source of immigrants. 80,000 South Africans live here.

“New Zealand already receives refugee claims from South Africans who face high levels of crime. Although the Refugee Convention does not allow claims on this basis, we could potentially see a large number of refugee claims from white farmers facing persecution by the South African state.

“The fact that the Government doesn’t want to acknowledge this is bizarre.

“I don’t mind the Parliament doing the feel good stuff as long as they are also prepared to take on the hard issues”, says Mr Seymour.

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