Mother helps enforce gang-patch ban

Kaumatua James Goldsmith with the sign elders have put up telling gang members their 'colours' are forbidden on the marae. Photo / Alan Gibson

A mother turned her own son away from a tangi in Murupara yesterday, helping to enforce a gang regalia ban on marae.

Yesterday's incident was the first serious test of Ngati Manawa's rahui (ban) on gang colours and patches in the iwi's Bay of Plenty region, after the murders of two teenagers this year.

It was an awkward, almost tragic sight to watch, but a stand kaumatua say is necessary to stop gang-related violence in the town.

Ageing gang members, however, say they're not the problem and shouldn't be discriminated against.

Pem Bird, a principal of a local kura kaupapa, approached two Tribesmen before the final service for 91-year-old kuia Martha Mitai got under way on Rangitahi Marae.

He was half-prepared for trouble and before Tribesmen arrived, he joked he and a mate were the front line in "Ngati Manawa's army".

In the carpark, he approached one gang member, who would not identify himself to the Weekend Herald, and said he could be part of the mourning rituals but only if he took off his "yellows".

That didn't sit well with the man, who kept his sunglasses on while he spoke to Mr Bird: "Turn a blind eye. Can't we talk about this after the tangi? We're all Maori, no matter what we're wearing."

He wanted to say goodbye to the kuia, who meant much to everyone in the town. The only way he wasn't coming was if his mother was brought out. Mr Bird called his bluff and asked for his mother to be found.

Only one of four gang members tried to enter through the gateway, but lines of men barred his entry.

He took the refusal badly, swearing and pulling the finger as he walked away.

Murupara Tribesmen vice-president "Germ" came in support of his friends. Colours were bound up in the group's identity, he said.

"Do they know what they're asking us to do? We'd fight carloads of mobsters over this."

The rahui was nothing but opportunistic, Germ said.

"I do despise the way they're using these deaths to try and eradicate the gangs, which have always been here. They should let those boys who died lie. Rest in peace, isn't that what they say?"

He argued his organisation had done much for the community including rebuilding the marae after it burned down and supporting fundraisers.

Rahui are more commonly associated with water, for example stopping the gathering of kaimoana immediately after a drowning.

Mr Bird said the ban was a "desperate act", using Maori lore, to ensure more "innocent lives" weren't lost.

"I don't hate gangs. This is done out of compassion. We want these people back with us. But the two things don't mix. You can't have our tikanga and what they [the gangs] do, together. It's incompatible."

Another kaumatua, James Goldsmith, said it was hard to watch his relations being refused entry.

"It wasn't easy. Most of us are whanau. But we had to make a stand. One way or the other, it breaks our hearts."

Daniel Tamepo, in his forties, watched as his gang brothers argued and pleaded in turn.

Asked if he would give up his colours to go on to the marae and say goodbye, Mr Tamepo quietly took a different view from his brothers.

"Maybe we should. It seems a simple issue."