Nanny Anne Candy has devoted her life to her South Auckland community.
Nanny Anne Candy has devoted her life to her South Auckland community.
She’s known as Nanny Annie to her multitude of mokopuna (grandchildren) but, to the voters of South Auckland, Anne Candy is known for her years of service.
That’s been acknowledged in the King’s Birthday Honours List, with the former Manukau Deputy Mayor and sitting Manurewa Local Board member made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
It’s a step up from her earlier Queen’s Service Order, and she’s gratified the citation this time says it’s for services to Māori and local government.
“I’m humbled by that. I’m not sure who put my name forward but some of the people I have walked alongside feel I can carry this mantle,” Candy says.
From the Faulkner whānau of Ngāiterangi, with connections through her mother to Ngāti Mahanga, Ngāti Wairere and Ngāti Whāwhākia of Waikato-Tainui, she moved from Tokoroa to Auckland to train as a teacher because “I loved school so much I didn’t want to leave”.
In her public roles she sought to increase the profile of Māori, serving on the Treaty of Waitangi committee of the Counties Manukau District Health Board and carrying that through to her work on Manukau City Council with its Māori advisory committee.
Anne Candy will give up public life to spend time with her many mokopuna.
She cites the late Nganeko Minhinnick of Ngāti Te Ata as an inspiration and worked closely with the iwi to support parents and whānau in education, health, housing, te reo Māori, cultural heritage, the wellbeing of tamariki (children) and environmental protection.
“When I was deputy mayor I was able to peel back a layer of colonisation and bring a cultural layer to light and the beauty of what mana whenua have to offer in the environment.
With the late Rose Whaiapu, the veteran educator set up the Taonga Education Centre Charitable Trust in 2005 to ensure young women did not have to give up school if they had babies.
It now has seven early childhood centres in Manukau and one attached to Auckland Girls’ Grammar School.
“The girls are getting their NCEA, they’re getting degrees and careers, they’re taking care of their babies, they’re not having them taken away from them,” she says.
Candy also has a long association with the Anglican church, serving as Bishop’s Commissary to Te Pihopa o Te Tai Tokerau from 2002 to 2023.
Candy says she won’t stand for another election, as she needs the time to make memories for her mokopuna.
“Manurewa has the highest population of young Māori in the country. They don’t want an 80-year-old making decisions for them,” she says.
