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Ngati Kahungunu is mourning the death of its matriarch Tangiora Akuhata, who died on Tuesday in her 105th year.
Mrs Akuhata was of Ngati Kahungunu ki Waimarama and Rongowhakaata ki Turanganui-a-kiwa
Relative Robert MacDonald posted on his Waimarama Maori Tours Facebook page that looking at the lineup of ancestors on the meeting house wall he realised only one of those tupuna would not have known or seen Aunty Tangi in her lifetime.
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox, who with Ikaroa Rawhiti MP Meka Whaitiri took a break from Te Matatini to attend the tangi, says she was an extraordinary woman, and not just for her longevity.
"Here I am battling the goverment over reducing the pension for Maori because we live eight years younger on average than our non-Maori counterparts here our kuia blows that argument out of the water by almost being 105," she says.
The funeral service for Tangiora Akuhata is 11 tomorrow at Waimarama, after which she will be buried with her ancestors in the Waimarama urupa.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MARAMA FOX CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjY5MDM=
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