Hikoi to block land sale - Tribe demands answers

By Mike Barrington Ngati Kahu people will march from Awanui to Kaitaia tomorrow in a bid to block the sale of land claimed by the tribe.
The hikoi is expected to start about 10am from a Landcorp farmhouse on the Karikari peninsula which Ngati Kahu people have been occupying since February 14 to highlight opposition to the Landcorp sale of a 9.18ha coastal block at Rangiputa.
Tenders for the property close with Bayleys Real Estate today. The block could fetch up to $5 million.
Protesters from the occupied farmhouse will drive to Awanui, from where the hikoi is expected to proceed on foot to Kaitaia about noon.
A spokesman for the protesters, Nicky Tauhara, said Ngati Kahu had shelved past differences to unite behind the peaceful effort to stop the land sale.
"Kaumatua are at the forefront of all of this. The Ngati Kahu people have had enough of the long and unsuccessful negotiations for the return of our land," Mr Tauhara said.
"Clever young people in Wellington have been dealing with us - now the old people want to speak with mana equal to theirs."
The Ngati Kahu people wanted Prime Minister Helen Clark and Treaty Negotiations Minister Mark Burton to visit the Karikari peninsula to address the situation, Mr Tauhara said.
Landcorp Farming chief executive officer Chris Kelly said yesterday that when Landcorp had offered the Rangiputa coastal block to the Office of Treaty Settlements it had been told the land was not believed to be part of a Maori claim.
The property would be sold with a 27B memorial on the title to enable the Crown to repurchase it if it was required for a claim settlement.
"I think the iwi is using Landcorp to have a go at the main protagonist in this - the Crown," Mr Kelly said.
Te Runanga o Ngati Kahu chairwoman Professor Margaret Mutu said the tribe had lost nearly 100,000ha under traditional tukuwhenua arrangements made before 1865.
With tukuwhenua, Ngati Kahu sanctioned the use of their land for a specific purpose or time. There was no sale contract and when the use or time expired the property reverted to Maori customary land.
The 9ha coastal property was part of the 6885ha Rangiputa block given to missionary Joseph Matthews in the 19th century.
"The Crown came along in 1859 and said it could take it," Ms Mutu said.
The Waitangi Tribunal had said in the 1997 Muriwhenua Report that tukuwhenua land should be returned to Ngati Kahu quickly to alleviate poverty and social dislocation caused by its loss, she said.
"The tribunal said that if the tribe was unable to reach a negotiated settlement the tribunal would make a binding recommendation for the return of Crown forestry land and property in the Ngati Kahu rohe held by state owned enterprises."
Ms Mutu said that after four years of negotiation the Crown was saying it would give land back but would not specify what land and would not discuss property held by SOEs.
"They are stringing us along until they settle with other tribes," she said.
"They are not offering any land, only $8 million to buy land back. What would we get for $8 million when Landcorp could get up to $5 million for 9ha for which the Crown paid nothing in the first place?"
Meanwhile, the under-funded Waitangi Tribunal had a big backlog of claims to work through and Ngati Kahu was waiting in line for its promised binding recommendation, she said. The runanga will hold a hui at the Kenana Marae in Mangonui on Saturday to discuss the Rangiputa protest.