Ihumātao eviction: Generations of Māori divided in dispute

Thursday, 25 July 2019

Protesters sing in front of the police cordon at Ihumātao.

Generations of Māori are divided over the land struggle at Ihumātao as hundreds travel to support the protest.

While Save Our Unique Landscape (SOUL) spokeswoman Pania Newton is encouraging more people to stand in solidarity, a kaumātua is telling them to go back to their own villages and tribes.

For the past three years, Newton and her supporters have been occupying the land in Māngere, south Auckland, to stop a Fletcher Building housing development.

Te Warena Taua of Te Kawerau a Maki says Pania Newton has 'misinformed' Māori throughout the country about Ihumātao (file photo).

About a dozen people had established a 'kaitiaki village' on Ihumātao Quarry Rd and had been living there full time in protest before an eviction notice was served on Tuesday.

**READ MORE:

* The Ihumātao dispute explained

The Ōtuataua Stonefields bordering Fletcher Building's special housing area at Ihumātao.

* Ihumātao eviction: Dogs pepper sprayed, people arrested

* In photos: Ihumātao dispute sees police and protesters face off

* Three protesters arrested at south Auckland's Ihumātao**

Protectors and police stand face to face at Ihumātao.

SOUL objects to the housing development being so close to the Ōtuataua Stonefields, a Māori heritage site and historic reserve.

It has also raised the ongoing repercussions of tangata whenua being evicted from the area by the Crown in the 1800s.

'1100 acres were confiscated,' Newton said in 2016. 'All we have now are 0.067 acres where our marae lies.'

Save Our Unique Landscape (SOUL) action group leader, Pania Newton, revs up the protesters.

Newton's uncle, Te Kawerau a Maki kaumātua Te Warena Taua, was originally against the development and led unsuccessful court action to stop Ihumātao being zoned a special housing zone.

However, he now supports the move, saying it would see Te Kawerau a Maki families return to the village.

Mihirangi Fleming at the site of the protest.

Amid three days of protests, Taua said SOUL had no whakapapa or genealogy to the land and '99.9 per cent' of the protesters were not from Te Kawerau a Maki.

Taua, who is the chairman of the Makaurau Marae Trust and executive chairman of Te Kawerau Iwi Tribal Authority, said Newton had 'misinformed' people in their village and Māori throughout the country about Ihumātao.

'We began to negotiate what benefits would come back to iwi and we've done bloody well,' he told Stuff.

'We stand strong in wanting housing for our people.'

In 2016, Taua said at least 200 families could come back and live in the village.

'We've had children who could not be brought up here because there's no room.'

He said the land where Fletcher Building wanted to build 480 houses did not have burial sites on it.

'It's been farmed for the last 150 years or so – my great great grandparents used to grow wheat on it.'

Taua said the protest was 'damaging to our marae, our tikanga, to which we belong and have strong adherence to'.

He described the protest at Ihumātao as 'quite a big mess' and disputed Newton's claims it was peaceful.

'The police are there to keep our communities safe and instead they are being shouted abuse at and spat on.'

Newton on Wednesday said described the police actions as 'inhumane' and said two people had needed medical attention after pepper spray, used on dogs, got on their faces and hands.

A woman had had her hair pulled as police tried to remove her from a truck, she said.

However, police denied the hair pulling allegation. A spokesman said he was not aware of anyone requiring medical attention.

Newton said she expected the 'intensity' of the protest to increase over the coming days and said reinforcements were travelling to Ihumātao from around the North Island.

'Enough is enough,' she said.

'Ihumātao has endured ongoing generational injustice.'

Meanwhile, the protesters have released a video featuring children at Ihumātao appealing directly to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has said the Government will not intervene in the dispute in order to show respect to the decision of Te Kawerau a Maki.

'We, the tamariki of Ihumātao, are pleading with you to stop the crisis here,' it said.

'You said this is a private dispute. That is not true. The government stole the land from our tūpuna (ancestors).'

But Taua encouraged the protesters to 'go back to their own tribes'.

'Go back to your own backyards and go clean them up first before you come to ours,' he said.

'They're going to continue protesting, I can't do anything about that, but it is going to come to an end.'

* An earlier version of this story stated that Pania Newton is Te Warena Taua's niece. This was incorrect.