April 29, 2013
Ngati Manawa fired up about Kaingaroa land grab
Ngāti Manawa marae are getting behind their rūnanga in fighting for a bigger share of Kaingaroa forest land.
Pem Bird, the chair of the newly-formed action group Te Kokoti Moeroa ā Tangiharuru, says they are upset the iwi has to go to court over the way the land is being divided up.
Under the Central North Island forestry settlement, accrued rentals and shares in the new CNI forestry company were divided among iwi on population lines, and there was to be a two-year tikanga-based process to decide which iwi held mana whenua over specific land blocks.
Mr Bird says larger iwi including Tūhoe, Tuwharetoa, and Raukawa are ignoring the process and making a grab for land in Kaingaroa that has always been Ngāti Manawa’s, straining relationships between neighbours.
“Generations of interaction, building links and in the modern days it counts for nothing. They scramble for the dollar and economic independence. I appreciate the outcome we are all after but I think that there’s some honour in here somewhere that we’re forgetting about. I think that the shame faced iwi have left that sort of legacy behind,”
Mr Bird says Te Kokoti Moeroa ā Tangiharuru is considering direct action to highlight its case.
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