Iwi feud over whakapapa simmers

OUR PEOPLE: Rangitane o Wairarapa kaumatua Jim Rimene, left, and Ngati Hamua kaumatua and Rangitane o Wairarapa cultural adviser Mike Kawana. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

The bell has sounded for the latest round in a feud between Wairarapa iwi over lineage and identity.

Mike Kawana, Rangitane o Wairarapa cultural adviser and Ngati Hamua kaumatua, had about five years ago raised objections about a Wairarapa Times-Age advert from Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa - Tamaki Nui a Rua Treaty Settlement Trust, naming "a number of Rangitane hapu including Ngati Hamua" as affiliates of Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa.

The advert was linked to a trust claim involving land east of the Tararua Range that stretches from Dannevirke to Cape Palliser.

There are 11 trustees and nine hapu karanga groupings comprising the Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa - Tamaki Nui a Rua claimant community: Ngati Hinewaka, Papawai Marae, Wairarapa Moana, Hurunui o Rangi Marae, Ngai Tumapuhia a Rangi, Te Hika o Papauma o Wairarapa, Te Oreore Marae, Akura and Tamaki Nui a Rua.

Mr Kawana said his earlier protests regarding Ngati Hamua had fallen on deaf ears. "There was nothing said in reply. They just ignored our pleas and carried on."

He said yesterday the points he raised were still unresolved and he had again "sent a clear message" for trustees to remove Ngati Hamua from the claim. He had also advised the Office of Treaty Settlements and Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson.

"If any of them have a true desire to connect to Hamua they can, but it is through their Rangitane whakapapa (lineage) that it will happen."

Ian Perry, chairman of Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa - Tamaki Nui A Rua Trust, said trustees were unable to comment due to confidentiality surrounding the trust claim.

Trustee Haami Te Whaiti said in 2010 the earlier trust advertisement involved hapu, like Ngati Hamua, that could trace lineage to both iwi. "There's a dual whakapapa in these hapu that's based in fact and on korero that's been handed down. Ngati Hamua is affiliated to Kahungunu - that's not something we manufactured," he said earlier.

Mr Kawana said the trust call on Ngati Hamua "is indeed something that has been manufactured by Kahungunu" from scant word-of-mouth evidence and incorrect government documentation that reached back only 50 years.

Rangitane o Wairarapa and Rangitane o Tamaki-Nui-o-Rua trustees had in March last year signed an agreement in principle with Minister Finlayson regarding Treaty of Waitangi claims involving financial redress of $32.5million and the return of seven Crown-owned sites to the iwi. Ngati Hamua was a signatory to the Rangitane settlement, Mr Kawana said.

"Rangitane have conceded so much to Kahungunu during the course of these claims despite the fact the Rangitane claim is legitimate, and Kahungunu have only been recognised because of intermarriage and the fact that Rangitane gifted them land 250 years ago," Mr Kawana said.

"Ngati Hamua will not be conceded. I strongly believe that what is being said and done is not a true reflection of the attitude and practice of all Ngati Kahungunu. These are just a few individuals who believe they are leading their people to a bright and united future.

"Well, the path they are going down at the moment is actually heading toward a future full of conflict and confusion," Mr Kawana said.

"But if fighting with one another is what it takes to make sure that our whakapapa and our korero is not changed by Kahungunu or the Crown, and to ensure our mokopuna don't have to go through the same confusion that we, that our parents, or that our grandparents have had to go through, Rangitane are ready to do battle."