to Ngāti Whātua at Te Matatini pōwhiri was about mana - not motuhake
For many of those who attended the pōwhiri marking the beginning of Te Matatini last month, my speech in reply to the young kaikorero of Ngaati Whaatua was perhaps regarded as “entertaining”, maybe even “provocative”.
For many others, however, that speech belies a widely held sense of frustration and anger at an increasingly avaricious hapuu intent on disrespecting, indeed dismissing, the mana whenua status of a number of Tainui and other iwi who occupied the Taamaki isthmus for centuries – Te Wai o Hua, Waikato, Ngaati Pāoa, Te Kawerau-a-Maki, Aki Tai, Ngati Te Ata, Ngati Maru, Ngaai Tai and others – before the arrival of Ngaati Whaatua to the area.
Their sense of growing entitlement and arrogance was perhaps foreshadowed when, a few years ago, Ngaati Whaatua ki Oorakei decided to call themselves Ngaati Whaatua Oorakei. The dropping of the ‘ki’ might seem trivial to the casual observer, but its consequences have been evident in the increasing willingness of this hapuu to use the Paakehaa courts in their attempts to obtain land that it never held sovereignty over.
Link to video and article: Tukoroirangi Morgan: Kiingitanga Tainui challenge to Ngāti Whātua at Te Matatini pōwhiri was about mana - not motuhake - NZ Herald
