Wananga council splits away over loan claim

Further divisions have emerged between the council of Te Wananga o Aotearoa and a group who today meet for an urgent hearing before the Waitangi Tribunal over an alleged Government settlement breach.

The Aotearoa Institute, the parent body of the wananga, has filed a claim alleging the Government failed to honour part of a 1998 settlement involving payment of a $20 million suspensory loan, which was to have been paid last year.

The Government refused to pay the loan. It claimed the wananga had not fulfilled its side of the agreement including maintaining an 80 per cent Maori enrolment ratio. Maori make up about half the wananga's enrolments.

However, the council last week moved to distance itself from the claim despite being the benefactor if the tribunal agrees with claimants.

Council chairman Craig Coxhead said the claim was taken by the Aotearoa Institute, a charitable trust, and former private training establishment from which Te Wananga o Aotearoa developed, and not the wananga.

"TWOA is not a party to the application which seeks this urgent hearing."

He said the wananga was negotiating with the Crown on payment of the suspensory loan.

The Herald has secured an internal staff memo detailing a growing hostility between the camps with Mr Coxhead criticising poor management decisions for the wananga's predicament rather than non-payment of the loan.

Chief executive Rongo Wetere was sidelined by the appointment of a Crown manager in March.

The Herald understands Dr Wetere was stood down on full pay in August, days before a draft Auditor-General's report into the troubled institution was released.

In the memo Mr Coxhead responded to questions from Aotearoa Institute member Rev Napi Waaka, who is leading a delegation - expected to be in the hundreds - to the hearing.

On accusations of financial mismanagement this year and the high cost of maintaining a Crown manager, Mr Coxhead said the appointment was justified. "At the beginning of 2004 we had cash reserves of $37 million. By the beginning of this year we relied on an overdraft."

Mr Coxhead said the wananga had "wasted money on a number of badly thought out capital projects" despite declining revenue, and had "committed to spending $1.07 for every dollar of revenue received".

He said the severity of the problem warranted the appointment, and would continue until the wananga had the expertise to manage its affairs. The council was seeking direct negotiations with the Government and supporting the tribunal hearing would be an act of bad faith.

In another memo, Mr Coxhead and acting chief operations officer John Mote told wananga staff they had to seek leave if they wished to support today's claim.

They also banned any wananga vehicles or resources being used for the hearing.