It's been an arduous waiting game for Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki, who are the last claimants to have settled within the Gisborne region.
According to Pene Brown, “The idea is to refresh the mandate looking to Mahaki Trust to see our settlement completed. We've been in the settlement phase for too long.”
The original claims were lodged in 1991 and 1992 by John Ruru. They then signed an AIP in 2008 with the Labour Govt of the day.
With 75% of the process towards settlement completed, they are now wanting to put political delays behind them.
Mr Brown says, “there’s been an opportunity to refresh just who Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki are, and within that, we have two strong hapū groups who believe they are iwi.”
The two hapū are Ngāriki Kaiputahi and Te Whānau-a-Kai.
Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki says, they will support them and will move forward together.
