Kia ora koutou e te whānau o Wakatū,
Thank you to all who attended our AGM 2023, held in Whakatū, Nelson in December. Thank you also if you voted in-person or by proxy in the Board election process.
Following our AGM last year, we received feedback and questions from our shareholders and whānau about the AGM 2023, the election, and its outcomes. In the coming weeks, we'll share information about our history, structure, and purpose as an organisation. We'll also explain how our shareholding framework works, and outline your rights and responsibilities as an Owner.
This email is the first in a short series of pānui, videos, and social media in the lead-up to our Special General Meeting (SGM) on Saturday 23 March, in Wellington.
It complements a printed booklet, ‘Wakatū Incorporation and your role as a shareholder,’ that you’ll receive via email or post alongside other SGM materials in advance of the meeting.
Our aim is to help Owners understand the structures and processes that inform Wakatū and to encourage increased participation in the SGM and future meetings. This may be by attending and voting in-person, or registering and casting a proxy vote.
Please keep an eye out and let us know at any time if you have any further questions or would like more information.
Ngā mihi maioha,
Johnny McGregor
Wakatū Incorporation - Chair
Our History and Structure: Ten Key Points
1. Wakatū was incorporated as a Māori incorporation in 1977. Māori incorporations are a way for multiple owners of Māori freehold land to manage and care for their land collectively. The structure of a Māori incorporation is similar to a company – it has shareholders and a legal identity separate from the individual owners.
2. We became an incorporation following a vote by our Owners in 1976. Before then, a Crown-appointed trustee had managed the remnants of the Nelson Tenths Reserves and Occupation Lands. In 1976, when the Government agreed to return the remnants, the customary Owners were given the choice of becoming an incorporation or a trust, or to leave the administration of the land in the hands of the Crown-appointed Māori Trustee. The majority of Owners voted in favour of establishing an incorporation.
3. An incorporation is a legal structure – one of only two legal structures that was available to us under the law in 1977. While it has its advantages and disadvantages, ultimately our whānau chose this structure as they believed it was the best option for them to be in control of their own destiny, under the current law and policy framework.
4. As an Incorporation, Wakatū is regulated and guided by the provisions of Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 and the Māori Incorporation Regulations.
5. When Wakatū was incorporated, we took control of a total of 1393.72 hectares of land, covering 752 leases. This land represented two parts of the customary estate – the remnants of the Nelson Tenths Reserves and the remnants of the Occupation Reserves.
6. The landowners were allocated shares equivalent in value to the interest they owned in the land in 1977. In that way, they became shareholders.
7. From 1977 onwards, people could also acquire shares in Wakatū and other Māori incorporations by buying them. This was allowed by Māori land legislation. For this reason, the shareholdings of Māori incorporations, including Wakatū, do not always reflect whakapapa, tikanga and the interests of the customary Owners.
8. From 1993, as a result of changes to Māori land law and the enactment of Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993, the practice of buying and selling shares in Māori land was restricted to specific classes of people. This change came about to prevent people with no whakapapa or tikanga relationship to the land from becoming owners of that land with decision-making authority.
9. Today, a core principle of Māori land law, or tikanga, is that the ahi kaa, or owners of land with decision-making authority, are those who whakapapa to the land, with rights and responsibilities based in tikanga.
10. The total number of shares in Wakatū is 10,442,592. We currently have around 4,570 Wakatū Owners. The number of shares never changes, however the number of Owners changes as the number of descendants grows and increases significantly with each generation.
An Invite to our SGM from Johnny McGregor, Chair of the Wakatū Board
Join us at the Wakatū Special General Meeting
Date and time: Saturday 23 March, 9am (registrations open 8am)
Location: Tākina (new events centre opposite Te Papa), Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
We welcome all shareholders and whānau to attend the SGM. To help us with our planning, we ask that everyone attending the SGM submit their RSVP by
Friday 8 March 2024 by clicking the RSVP button below:
Registration for shareholders
On the day of the SGM, all shareholders will need to register their attendance with Te Tāhuhu - our Owner liaison team. Registration for the SGM is easier if you bring your shareholder number with you.
Everyone who brings their shareholder number with them will go into the draw to win one of two mystery prizes, drawn on the day of the SGM.
If you do not know your shareholder number, please get in touch before the SGM by phone 03 546 8648 or by email.
Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre
This year our SGM will be at Tākina Wellington Exhibition and Convention Centre located at 50 Cable Street, Wellington, which is directly across the road from Te Papa on Cable Street.
The meeting will be in the Tāwhirimātea Room on Level 2. The main entrance to the building is on Cable Street but you can also enter from Wakefield Street.
There is no parking at Tākina, but there is the Te Papa carpark across the street and an outdoor carpark outside the old Reading Cinemas building on Wakefield Street.
Staying Connected
Are all your whānau getting information about Wakatū? Please make sure you share the information in this pānui with your whānau connected to Wakatū.
We encourage everyone connected to Wakatū to join our e-pānui list and to follow us on www.facebook.com/Wakatu.
That way we can keep everyone in touch with opportunities such as scholarships, wānanga, news about our whānau whānui, and Whenua, Kono and AuOra, your businesses.
To join our e-pānui list, email info@wakatu.org with your name and email address, using E-pānui in the subject line.
If you have changed your postal address, email or bank account, please email LeeAnne Hawea Te Hira or call 03 546 8648 and ask for Lee-Anne.