Te Pāti Māori just proved tikanga Is nothing more than mumbo-jumbo

The latest crisis within Te Pāti Māori has exposed the uncomfortable truth. Tikanga talk is just mumbo jumbo. The moment the party’s leadership chooses to run roughshod over iwi voices and democratic process, the whole house of cards comes crashing down.

That 88 iwi apparently made a call for unity asking for cohesion and collective kōrero only for Te Pāti Māori’s national council to ignore, dismiss or override them. The headline tells the story. Iwi called for unity and the party decided to expel MPs instead. There is no illusion. When push comes to shove, tikanga means nothing.

The hypocrisy of kaupapa Māori governance is clear. Te Pāti Māori presents itself as the embodiment of kaupapa Māori as a party rooted in tikanga, manaakitanga and kotahitanga. However, when iwi call for unity, the leadership acts unilaterally. When grassroots voices say something different, the national council meets behind closed doors, votes without opposition and boots MPs out.

It is not just mismanagement. It looks like dictatorship. That is what Māori supremacist Eru Kapa‑Kingi alleged when he severed his movement’s relationship with Te Pāti Māori. If you preach majority rule, you cannot then ignore the majority when it diverges. If you speak of whanaungatanga and open hui, you cannot then hold secret votes and ratify expulsions without input from those most affected.

This episode shows that for many, tikanga is mumbo jumbo and a branding exercise not a framework for decision making. Consider the dispute was internal. The iwi chairs forum hoped for reconciliation. There was talk of unity. The outcome was exclusion. This tells us that tikanga has no binding force when the powers that be decide to act otherwise.

What is the cost of this charade? A loss of legitimacy. If a political organisation that claims to represent Māori values and speaks of tikanga cannot practise internal democracy, then it forfeits moral authority. Communities will become cynical. Iwi will ask if the voice of 88 iwi was ignored, what hope is there for the voice of the many smaller hapū and marae.

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It opens the door to critique from outside. Māori governance is captured. Māori politics is elite driven. Tikanga is used only when convenient. That is damaging not just for Te Pāti Māori but for every initiative that claims to operate via tikanga.

Yes, I hate to admit it, but Eru Kapa‑Kingi might have been right. This episode makes it impossible to ignore the suspicion that Te Pāti Māori is run as a dictatorship rather than as a collective movement grounded in tikanga. If iwi repeatedly call for unity and kōrero and the leadership answers by expulsion, then tikanga is shown plainly to hold no weight.

Until the mechanisms of accountability, transparency and genuine participation are embedded not just spoken about, the talk of tikanga will continue to ring hollow.

Prime minister Chris Luxon was right, Te Pāti Māori is a joke.