Nelson Mandela's grandson has denied David Seymour's claim that his grandfather would have campaigned for ACT.
Seymour this week made the claim at a Moutere Hills Community Centre meeting in rural Tasman, where he told the crowd New Zealand has become a "lawless" country "full of heinous crimes".
"Every country that has ever tried to do what this government has tried to do [regarding co-governance] has either ended in disaster, or successfully campaigned to reintroduce liberal democracy," Seymour said.
"I daresay if Nelson Mandela was alive today he would be campaigning for ACT."
Mandela's enduring legacy as an anti-apartheid activist and the first president of South Africa has made him into a powerful pro-Democracy and anti-racism symbol. In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in combating apartheid.
In response to Amy Ridout's reporting on the meeting for Stuff, Mandela's grandson, Kweku Mandela, rejected Seymour's claim of theoretical endorsement.
"My grandfather definitely loved the people of New Zealand and I can say categorically he would not campaign for this today or any other day in the past," Mandela said in a tweet.
Seymour told Stuff in response: "Far be it from me to question the great man's grandson, but Nelson Mandela did say 'all people are born equal, with each entitled in equal measure to life [and] liberty'.
"That is a core ACT value and why we are so opposed to co-governance."
Kweku Mandela co-founded the non-profit group Africa Rising and produced and directed Mandela's Children, a documentary film about his grandfather.
"I'm very proud of my granddad," he said in a 2012 interview with The Guardian. "There's a lot in his life that I want to use in mine. In the end, you have to live your own life and do the things you're passionate about and I think people will acknowledge that regardless of who my grandfather is."
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