The organisers of Te Matatini kapa haka festival have postponed next year's event until 2023 due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
In a statement on Friday, Te Matatini said after “much deliberation, specialist advice from Māori health experts and statisticians relating to the current climate of Covid-19 in Aotearoa, Te Matatini has made the collective decision to postpone Te Matatini Herenga Waka Herenga Tangata.
“The festival will remain at Eden Park (Ngā Ana Wai) in Tāmaki Makaurau and all qualifying Kapa Haka and judges will remain the same as they currently stand.
“Tiakina te whakapapa, tiakina hoki te Kapa Haka are paramount and have been at the forefront of all considerations and conversations for the Te Matatini Festival organising committee," said Carl Ross, chief executive of Te Matatini.
“We know that many whānau will be disappointed that the festival will not go ahead in 2022 as planned. Many plans were put in place and sacrifices made by all our kapa haka that will have to be moved.
“But as we know, protecting whānau is the number one priority, and the Delta variant of Covid-19 poses a real threat to our people and that is why we are encouraging whānau to get vaccinated.”
The looming introduction of the Government’s new Covid-19 rules means that all large scale indoor/outdoor events will require vaccination certificates for all participants to attend.
“We want to applaud our Māori health providers, doctors and nurses for all their continued efforts and hard work over the past 19 months to protect our whānau Māori and assisting with the vaccination rollout.” said chairman Selwyn Parata.
It comes after the Government announcement on October 22 that New Zealand will be transitioning from an elimination strategy to a new system which relies on a highly vaccinated population and a traffic light system.
A further announcement was made on October 26, mandating the requirement of vaccine certificates for those involved in, and attending, large scale events.
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