Māori activist group Toitū Te Tiriti says Te Pāti Māori has become a 'dictatorship' while MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi hints she may be punished for standing up to leadership

Influential Māori activist group Toitū Te Tiriti has severed ties with Parliament’s Te Pāti Māori citing an authoritarian leadership style and ego-driven views on Māori electorate seats. 

Toitū Te Tiriti coordinated Wellington’s largest ever protest in November last year, rallying tens of thousands of people to demonstrate opposition to the Coalition’s Treaty Principles Bill.

It has become an organising powerhouse for a new generation of Māori and has built strong support from non-Māori allies. The group explicitly pitches itself as a live demonstration of how the Treaty of Waitangi can unify New Zealanders of all stripes.

On Thursday, Te Ao Maori News reported the group will no longer align itself with Te Pāti Māori (TPM) due to a clash of values. 

Toitū Te Tiriti spokesperson Eru Kapa-Kingi told the news outlet that TPM was “effectively a dictatorship” and had developed an “ego-driven narrative” about being the only party entitled to hold Māori electorate seats.

“It’s not true that Te Pāti Māori is the only kaupapa Māori party entitled to hold the Māori seats. That’s a false, ego-driven narrative. Power doesn’t sit with one party; it sits with the people,” he said. 

This could be a reference to the recent by-election in Tāmaki Makaurau, during which TPM politician Tākuta Ferris criticised Labour for working with ethnic volunteers and for trying to “take” a seat away from Māori.

TPM had a confused response. Party leaders allegedly apologised to Labour and the Greens but never did so publicly, then party president John Tamihere later endorsed the “substance” of Ferris’ comments.

Around the same time, the party’s chief whip Mariameno Kapa-Kingi (who is the mother of Eru Kapa-Kingi) was demoted from her position and hit with a $20,000 pay cut. The reason for this decision was not made clear to the public. 

Schism rumours

In an interview with Te Hiku Media, a radio station in Kaitaia, on Wednesday, Kapa-Kingi said she wasn’t given any explanation either and the party needed to improve its kaupapa.

“My expectation is that we should do better and we can do better … because I hear it too. The rumours you hear, the direct, not even rumours just the direct [question] ‘Meno what on earth is going on,” she said. 

The news report referred to “rumors circulating Wellington” and Northland that Mariameno Kapa-Kingi would be “politically punished” by John Tamihere and others in executive leadership roles in Te Pāti Māori.

Toitū Te Tiriti spokesperson, Eru Kapa-Kingi, criticised this same leadership team—describing it as a “dictatorship model”—but denied the break with TPM was motivated by loyalty to his mother.

“It needs to be unambiguous that our kaupapa is not a lobby group for any political party. This was supposed to be a kaupapa for everyone, a kaupapa that leaves no one behind,” he said.

Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins has also criticised TPM for not speaking out against Tākuta Ferris’ comments, which people across the political spectrum have described as “racist”.

“If that reflects the position that the Māori Party will be campaigning on, then that's going to be very, very difficult for Labour to work with," he told RNZ. 

“If, on the other hand, they embrace a more inclusive approach that says that the role of government is to govern for all New Zealanders, then, you know, we may well be able to find a lot more common ground”.

A place to stand

Toitū Te Tiriti breaking with the Parliamentary party contains echoes of the Māori Queen’s debut speech at Tuurangawaewae last month. 

(Her title in te reo Māori is Te Arikinui Kuini and her name, Nga wai hono i te po, is written in lowercase letters).

In her speech, the kuini said being Māori was “not defined by having an enemy or a challenge to overcome” and advocated for more focus on developing independent, self-funded initiatives that didn't rely on support from the government of the day. 

“If we don't rise up, yell, wield weapons, fly flags or perform haka, we mistakenly think we're ineffective as Māori,” she said, according to an RNZ translation.

“My father said 'be Māori all day, every day', because he knew we needed to be strong in good times and bad, with or without protest. And that's how we can express our vitality as Māori.”

Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po will soon host a summit to develop economic opportunities starting with $30 million seed funding from iwi Māori entities.