Matua Kahurangi: The MUMA Millions - Where the hell Is all the money going?

How the hell does an organisation go from a modest three million in total income to a jaw dropping sixteen million in just a handful of years, without anyone blinking an eye? That is the uncomfortable question sitting right at the feet of the Manukau Urban Maori Authority, run by Labour MP Willie Jackson’s wife, Tania Rangiheuea.

According to their latest financial statements, exposed by Suit and Tie over on X, MUMA is now sitting on over ten and a half million dollars in cash and cash equivalents. Ten and a half million. In cash. For a social services organisation that is supposedly helping the most vulnerable Maori in South Auckland, that figure is beyond staggering. It raises alarms so loud you would think someone in the gallery would ask the obvious question. Where the whūk is the money actually going?

MUMA proudly boasts assets like Waatea News, a media arm with a bit of history. Fine, but let’s not pretend that radio bulletins and opinion columns magically justify an explosion of income that puts some private companies to shame. The far more pressing issue is whether this money is materially improving the lives of the Maori of Manukau or if this whole thing is just another multi million dollar grift dressed up as cultural advocacy. To be perfectly honest, I think it is the latter.

Last week Cam Slater broke the real bombshell on the The Good Oil Podcast when Matthew McCarten revealed that Willie Jackson acted as his wife’s employment advocate inside MUMA, despite having no official position there. According to McCarten, Jackson told the chair to make a bullying and complaint report about his wife “disappear”. This is not small fry. These are serious allegations of political interference, ethical breaches and a governance culture so rotten you can smell it from the North Shore.

Serious allegations against Willie Jackson and MUMA raise alarming questions
Matua Kahurangi 4 Dec

Explosive allegations have emerged from veteran political figure Matthew McCarten, raising deeply troubling questions about Labour MP Willie Jackson and the Manukau Urban Maori Authority (MUMA). If McCarten’s account is accurate, Jackson has used his political influence…
Read full story

And how many mainstream media outlets have covered this?

Yeah, nah. Not a single one.

The same media that will run wall to wall coverage about a school lunch being cold refuses to touch allegations involving a senior Labour MP, his wife, and an organisation raking in millions of taxpayer money while sitting on a cash pile larger than many small councils. It is almost like Labour still enjoys a protective shield, gifted during the Ardern regime and polished with the fifty million plus dollars they handed out to media under the guise of Public Interest Journalism Fund. Money that magically ensured endless puff pieces and zero scrutiny while Ardern pumped out her propaganda bullshit to a compliant press gallery.

Now the glow up is wearing thin. The waka wheels are wobbling. The public is asking questions. Still the media sits in silence. You just can’t hate them enough.

To be honest, the whole thing sounds like a rerun of John Tamihere’s Waipareira Trust saga all over again. Another round of grifting from the Maori elite while everyone else is told to shut up and be grateful. I wouldn’t be surprised if Willie Jackson is reading straight off JT’s old blueprint, because the pattern is the same. Millions poured into glossy organisations run by political insiders, while out in the real world babies are still being murdered, kids are being raised in meth dens, families are living off two minute noodles and sleeping in cars. The money never seems to reach the people it is supposedly meant to help, but the ones at the top always walk away with full pockets and clean hands.

This country is becoming more whākd’ by the day, and the MUMA money trail is just the latest example of why New Zealanders no longer trust the institutions that are supposed to hold power to account.

If sixteen million dollars can flow into an organisation with this many questions swirling around its governance, and the media cannot be bothered to ask even one of them, then maybe South Auckland Maori are not the ones being served.

Maybe they are the ones being played.

Since The Good Oil podcast aired, Cam Slater has reported that Tania Rangiheuea has not shown her face around the MUMA office. Staff say she has been keeping an unusually low profile, slipping into the background right as serious allegations about governance and interference hit the spotlight. It is remarkable how quickly people vanish the moment real scrutiny arrives.

Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced.