Ngati Manu hapu rejects Tuhoronuku

At a meeting at held at Karetu on Thursday 9th of May, Ngati Manu hapu unanimously rejected Tuhoronuku and interim Chair Sonny Tau’s efforts to negotiate and lead a treaty settlement on behalf of Ngati Manu.

“We absolutely reject the Te Rununga o Ngapuhi derivative Tuhoronuku speaking or acting on behalf of Ngati Manu’ says Ngati Manu presenter Marsha Davis.

“Ngati Manu first declared opposition to a Tuhoronuki led process in 2010 and we confirm this again. We are alarmed at a recent newspaper article in the Bay Chronicle, 9 May 2013, which attempts to discredit Ngati Hine leaders while positioning Tuhoronoku, a charitable trust, as the only ‘vehicle’ to negotiate Te Paparahi o te Raki treaty claims.”

“We have just completed three hui where Ngati Manu kaikorero presented their evidence and received hapu support. We are all excited and nervous to be presenting to the Waitangi Tribunal on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 May 2013 as this is an important time for us. Evidence to be presented is about historical crown breaches of Te Tiriti, land grabbing and raupatu against Ngati Manu. It is also about Ngati Manu’s special relationship with Queen Victoria. Nowhere in our evidence is there any record of our tupuna dealing with the crown through a charitable trust. Our tupuna were autonomous, they made their own decisions and we honour our tupuna by doing the same.”

“We support Takutai Moana because it is founded on kaupapa Maori which enables the fundamental right and authority of hapu whanau decision making. It has been Takutai Moana who has assisted Ngati Manu and other Bay of Islands hapu to proceed to these treaty hearings, not Tuhoronuku. The remedies Ngati Manu seek from the crown arise from a history of oppression against Ngati Manu and we see Tuhoronuku’s crown driven process and outcomes as a form of modern day oppression.”

“We are also concerned at Minister of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Mr. Finlayson’s continued attempts to pre-empt hapu autonomy by pushing a Tuhoronuku agenda. We see this as another example of Crown pre-emption similar to what took place at the signing of Te Tiriti on Feb 6th 1840. We uphold that our Ngati Manu ancestors maintained autonomy and rangatiratanga and did not cede ‘sovereignty’ when they signed Te Tiriti. The last time the Minister took such a public stance he foreshadowed the largest grab of Maori land since Te Tiriti and the crown, the foreshore and seabed. We urge the Minster to step back from publicly supporting Tuhoronuku and stop pre-empting hapu decision making.”

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