Tribute to a giant

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Des Ratima (Ngāti Kahungungu; Rongowhakaata) died last Sunday, aged 69. Newsroom pays tribute to a Kaumātua who was instrumental in changing the state’s role in taking children from whanau.

“Everyone is obviously outraged, but what I see in that outrage is the opportunity now to take control of a problem, and myself and the others involved in this are about making Oranga Tamariki irrelevant.”

These are the words of Des Ratima, a man who took the lead during the attempted uplift of a newborn baby at Hastings Hospital. He would in turn help shift the destinies of a generation of children and their families in Aotearoa.

Five inquiries would be launched as a result of his work, with others, and drastic changes were implemented within Oranga Tamariki as a result.

Our investigations editor Melanie Reid recalls Des being called to the hospital by midwife Ripeka Ormsby in the middle of the night.

“We were hoping this Kaumātua could perform some kind of miracle.”

“The power of the state was on full display. The police were there en masse, supported by security dialled in by the DHB. Entrances were locked down, tough guys and women in uniform blockaded the hospital entrances, the midwives by now locked out along with the baby’s whānau. Everyone gathered out in a cold dark hospital carpark while the mother clung to her baby inside the hospital, refusing OT’s orders to put him in their car seat.

“Des arrived and called every CEO and bigwig in Hawkes Bay until he managed to ‘call the dogs off’ at around 2am.”

At a hui the following day, Des stood like a tōtara against the establishment.

“We witnessed him dissolve the state agencies one by one by confronting their crusade of misguided righteousness: the police, the health ministry, Oranga Tamariki, the courts, until our young mum kept her baby. And he did it by reminding them exactly what their jobs and responsibilities were: to serve the people.”

His death last Sunday has prompted an outpouring of grief and tributes for a Kaumātua who dedicated his life to helping others with trademark tenacity and calm fearlessness.

The grandmother of the baby at the centre of the Hastings uplift says he completely transformed the lives of her family – not just on the night and days after the event, but ever since.

“He was more than just that person that fought to keep my grandson. He kept our family together. If it wasn’t for him, OT would’ve pulled us all apart. He was our strength, our power. It’s a big loss. He’s a big part of us that’s gone. He was more than a support person, he had become family.

“He gave us back our mana, which had been taken from us. Des gave us the courage of self-belief and the power to fight back.”

Des dedicated much of his life to navigating peaceful solutions with grace and perseverance. He spent 20 years in the army, and in that time played a role in helping resolve the civil war in Bougainville.

“One of the most important things that helped us in bringing peace to the Bougainville civil war was the understanding of the nature and value of indigenous cultures. We as Māori were able to understand and work in with the cultures of other Pacific peoples and this played a massive part in the eventual signing of the peace treaties,” said Ratima.

Des’ faith was his foundation. He committed his life to the challenging job of uniting people, and the result was an extraordinary list of accomplishments and a legacy of compassionate service to others.

He led the building of the marae at the Waiouru Army Base and helped bring te ao Māori to the Army.

Later, he helped rebuild Flaxmere’s Te Aranga Marae and to establish the first Māori standing committee for the Hastings District Council.

He became a Kaumātua for Ngāti Kahungunu, and a Justice of the Peace.

In 2018, he was named Hawke’s Bay Business Leader of the Year, and made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori that same year. With his wife, Evelyn, he has been a fierce leader for their community of Whakatu for more than a decade.

Des explained he had no idea the ‘uplifts’ were going on before that night in Hastings.

“Before this case was brought to my attention I knew nothing about OT. I assumed like everybody else that the parents were just bad parents and didn’t think anything was wrong with the system. I was gobsmacked to learn about babies getting uplifted from their parents upon their birth. It was an eye opener to see how much families must fight to keep their newborn babies. I was also shocked at how many Māori babies were being picked up – three per week.”

But he quickly became an expert, and that event was a catalyst for an avalanche of change – with Des the firebrand at the centre of it all.

“Often, our people, our young women and young men who have been left abandoned by the state, the victims of decades of colonisation, are the ones who need care and protection – they together with their babies. They are all a cohesive inseparable whānau unit and need care and protection from the ravages of the State. The care of our most vulnerable and of our children needs to be repatriated back to us Māori.”

Following the attempted uplift, Des set up a group to help others in similar situations, which has worked with more than 50 families affected or impacted by Oranga Tamariki. He travelled around the country teaching cultural competency at different Oranga Tamariki sites. And he never stopped challenging the state.

When Oranga Tamariki attempted to have our Newsroom documentary excluded from evidence in the Waitangi Tribunal’s urgent inquiry, Des was unequivocal.

“There is a level of arrogance and racism which OT continues to display. OT must be called to account. This Hastings case study is such a call. OT do not want to hear first-hand of the impacts of their wrongful decisions.”

Newsroom’s staff sends its deepest gratitude and condolences to the family of a man we feel honoured to have known and worked side by side with in what has been a giant fight against the bad practice of our child welfare system.

“Des shared so much of his wisdom with us, which in turn the public of Aotearoa received through our stories, and his efforts to create a fairer and more decent community. He stood like a mountain against injustice and cared more, went deeper and further than anyone we have encountered on this. He took so much of what was ugly and helped create a better way, rallied against what was wrong and made it right,” Reid says.

We send our blessings to his wife Evelyn, the Ratima whānau, the Whakatu community, Ngāti Kahungunu and all his loved ones. Kua hinga te tōtara o Te Waonui a Tāne.