EGN NEWS DESK
NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga — New Zealand’s Māori King, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, died Friday at age 69, days after the celebration of his 18th yr on the throne.
He was the seventh monarch within the Kiingitanga motion, holding a place created in 1858 to unite New Zealand’s Indigenous Māori tribes within the face of British colonization.
Tuheitia died in hospital after coronary heart surgical procedure, stated Rahui Papa, a spokesperson for the Kiingitanga, the Māori King Movement, in a publish on Instagram.
The motion’s main targets have been to finish the sale of land to non-Indigenous folks, cease inter-tribal warfare, and supply a springboard for the preservation of Māori tradition, the Waikato-Tainui tribe web site stated. The monarch has a largely ceremonial however nonetheless consequential position in New Zealand, the place Māori make up shut to twenty% of the inhabitants.
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“The demise of King Tuheitia is a second of nice unhappiness for followers of Kiingitanga, Maaoridom and your complete nation,” Papa wrote on social media.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon paid tribute to Tuheitia, saying his “unwavering dedication to his folks and his tireless efforts to uphold the values and traditions of the Kiingitanga have left an indelible mark on our nation.”
“I’ll keep in mind his dedication to Aotearoa New Zealand,” Luxon stated, utilizing the nation’s Māori and English names, “his dedication to mokopuna (younger folks), his ardour for te ao Māori (the Māori world), and his imaginative and prescient for a future the place all persons are handled with dignity and respect.”
In latest months, Tuheitia has coordinated nationwide unity talks for Māori in response to insurance policies of Luxon’s center-right authorities. Critics accuse the federal government of being anti-Māori in its efforts to reverse insurance policies favoring Indigenous folks and language.
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King Charles III, New Zealand’s constitutional head of state, and his spouse, Queen Camilla, have been “profoundly saddened” by Tuheitia’s demise.
“I had the best pleasure of figuring out Kiingi Tuheitia for many years. He was deeply dedicated to forging a powerful future for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand based upon tradition, traditions and therapeutic, which he carried out with knowledge and compassion,” Charles stated in a press release.
The week earlier than Tuheitia’s demise, hundreds traveled to Turangawaewae Marae, the Māori King Movement headquarters within the city of Ngāruawāhia, for annual celebrations of the king’s ascension to the throne.
The seat of the king is held by the Tainui tribes within the Waikato area, and it was not but clear who will take the throne.
“It is anticipated that Kiingi Tuheitia will lie in state at Turangawaewae Marae for 5 days earlier than he’s taken to his ultimate resting place on Taupiri Mountain,” Papa stated.
