A prominent Māori activist
believes that tangata whenua have no viable option for the
upcoming general election, but has ruled out forming a
political party himself.
Toitū Te Tiriti has cut ties
with Te Pāti Māori after kaikōrero Eru Kapa-Kingi accused
the party leadership of being “dictatorial”, and criticised
the party for failing to hold its annual general meeting and
national council hui, despite constitutional
requirements.
Te Pāti Māori has disputed the claims,
saying no formal complaints have been lodged and it promised
a “reset” next week.
Kapa-Kingi told RNZ’s Saturday
Morning issues
within Te Pāti Māori in recent weeks had shown “the cracks
of how the party operates” but the conversation around the
independence of Toitū Te Tiriti was “long in the
works”.
“I want to make clear… that the position of
Toitū in confirming its independence as a political
movement is separate to me sharing my lived experiences as
Eru and my criticisms and observations as Eru
Kapa-Kingi.”
Kapa-Kingi said movements have to survive
through any changes in political tides and it didn’t not
make sense to be tied at the hip to any political
party.
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“It’s good to have these clear lines of people
on the ground, activating on the ground and politicians
doing their mahi in there because sure they can come out of
the whare and swing a flag around, which is cool, and
necessary sometimes for support but we can’t swap roles with
them.”
He clarified there could still be working
relationships between Toitū Te Tiriti and a political party
that aligned with the kaupapa of Te Tiriti o
Waitangi.
The role of Toitū Te Tiriti was to pressure
a legitimate block into working together to present a
hopeful option for government and for change, he
said.
Kapa-Kingi believes tangata whenua have no
viable option for the upcoming general election but he has
ruled out forming a rival political party. Rather, he hoped
the split from Toitū Te Tiriti would spur Te Pāti Māori
into creating genuine change from the inside — that it
“sort out its raruraru and clean out its whare”.
This
could offer an opportunity for a relationship between the
party and Toitū Te Tiriti, he said.
Te Pāti Māori
said next week it will share its “reset”
and vision for a path ahead.
A couple of speeches
from the party would not be good enough and the core problem
was a lack of accountability, Kapu-Kingi said.
But he
said relationship between Toitū Te Tiriti and Te Pāti
Māori was not beyond restoration.
“I will say the
statement from Te Pāti Māori doesn’t go far enough in
addressing the actual issues that I’m bringing up, and
dances around the issue of toxic leadership.
“It’s a
bit of an exhibition in gaslighting.”
Kapa-Kingi asked
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie
Ngawera-Packer, and party president John Tamihere, for “a
genuine moment of self-reflection”.
“What matters is
the people have an opportunity to speak, ’cause many have
been silenced in terms of having genuine influence over the
direction of Te Pāti Māori.”
On Friday, Te Pāti
Māori co-leader Rāwiri Waititi declined an interview with
RNZ, but told Radio Waatea the party had addressed
Kapa-Kingi’s accusations through media
statements.
“We’re open to having any open dialogue
with the people that may be disgruntled. We’ve just got to
continue the mahi,” he
said.
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