The owner of a South Auckland fried chicken shop robbed at knifepoint on Tuesday night says the encounter was “shocking” and “frightening” for him and his staff.
Security cameras caught the incident. Photo: Chicking Takanini / supplied
A police spokesperson said they were called to Chicking on Great South Road at 9:39pm after a person who had a weapon demanded money from a staff member.
“The offender has taken a quantity of cash from the till before fleeing,” the spokesperson said.
CCTV footage obtained by RNZ showed a man wearing a black hoodie and surgical mask using a weapon to threaten staff into opening the cash register at the fried chicken restaurant.
Chicking Takanini owner Kafi Islam said the man had what appeared to be a “mechanical tool” resembling a knife, and was holding it against his 21-year-old staff member.
He recalled the moment he was sitting behind the counter and the man came in.
“He was saying, ‘Give me the money or I will stab him.’ Then I ask, ‘Okay how much money do you want?’ And he said $100.
“Evidently the staff member opened the cash draw, took a hundred dollars out, and gave it to him. I chose to comply with the robbers rather than fight with them.
“He took the money, and as soon as he saw other cash in the cash drawer he immediately started robbing all the cash.”
Islam said the robber asked the two to open a second till, but Islam “screamed and shouted” at the intruder, telling him to leave.
“It was very very frightening, it was absolutely shocking, absolutely like disaster. Immediately after, I called the cops.”
Islam said the robbery was adding to already existing financial pressures. He said the stolen money would have helped pay for staff wages, and Islam would not claim insurance because of the fees.
“It’s hard to be honest, in this current economic situation. We, Chicking Takanini, is struggling,” he said. “He just took the money but did not rob any fried chicken. We are just a small fried chicken burger shop.”
Islam said the frightening night made him and his workers concerned about returning to work.
“Especially my staff member who got threatened to be killed, was very scared and shaken. He is only 21 years old.”
Police said they were yet to make any arrests and were still in the process of determining who was responsible.
The latest stage in the legal saga surrounding the Lavulavus has been adjourned until next Tuesday, April 2.
(L-R) ‘Etuate Lavulavu and ‘Akosita Lavulavu
The Supreme Court is conducting voir dire hearings.
According to Attorney General Linda Simiki Folaumoetu’i, voir dire hearings are a means of investigating the truth or admissibility of evidence.
She said they also investigated whether police and people involved in collecting evidence for a trial had done so legally and lawfully.
The Attorney General said the voir dire had not been completed.
The fourth and final prosecution witness for the voir dire, Auditor General Sefita Tangi, was still being cross examined by Counsel for the First Defendant, Mrs ‘Akosita Lavulavu;
The voir dire was adjourned from March 11, 2024 to April 2, 2024, due to official travel by Acting Justice ‘Elisapeti Langi and the Auditor General.
‘Akosita and Etuate Lavulavu were jailed in 2021 for corruption and fraud connected with a school they ran.
In 2022, the Court of Appeal overturned the original sentence, ruling that the judge in the earlier trial had not been impartial. The Court of Appeal ordered that the duo be re-tried in the Supreme Court.
Before the re-trial ‘Akosita Lavulavu claimed that Justice Langi would be biased because she had been working at the Attorney General’s office when the charges were first laid.
Justice Tony Randerson said the appeal had no merit.
Lavulavu and others founded a private education institute in Tonga in 2003. Etuate Lavulavu was its president and his wife ‘Akosita was its director.
From 2013-2015 the Institute obtained grants from the Ministry of Education and Training. When the grants were audited by the Auditor-Genera’s office, irregularities were found.
It was recommended that $553,800 be reimbursed to the Ministry and that the case be referred to the police for possible further investigation.
In March 2018 the Lavulavus were charged with three counts of obtaining money by false pretences and convicted after a trial before Judge Cooper.
In July 2021 they were each sentenced to six years imprisonment with the final year of Mrs Lavulavu’s sentence suspended for two years on conditions.
They remained in custody until bail was granted in September 2022.
Mr and Mrs Lavulavu successfully appealed against their convictions. On October 10, 2022 the Court of Appeal quashed their convictions and ordered a retrial.
The Court of Appeal said there was ample evidence to support findings of apparent bias on the part of the Judge, that the trial was unfair and that the verdicts could not stand.
However, the Court was satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to support convictions on a correct application of relevant legal principles.
In November 2022 former Lord Chief Justice Whitten, KC, set a trial date for May 8, 2023, but the DPP filed an amended indictment which said that Etuate Lavulavu was guilty as a party rather than as a principal offender.
Mr Lavulavu applied to have the charges against him dismissed on the grounds of abuse of process. However, in May 2023 Lord Chief Justice Whitten dismissed Mr Lavulavu’s application. Etuate Lavulavu was given leave to appeal. His wife did not appeal.
The appeal was subsequently dismissed.
For more information
Judge bars media from reporting on Lavulavu couple’s $500,000 fraud retrial
EDITORIAL: Tongans have been left in the dark over the reported resignation of Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku as Defence Minister and Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu as Foreign affairs Minister.
King Tupou VI Photo/File photo
Neither the palace nor the government will confirm or deny the reports, Both the palace and the parliament are letting the people down.
Senior government sources told Kaniva News earlier this week that they believed the reports were true.
Since 2010, when Tonga adopted its frail constitution, the kingdom has been a democracy, but one that has been constantly under threat as forces in the palace seeks to reassert their dominance over the country.
His Majesty King George V agreed to relinquish his executive to a government elected by the people.
Clause 51 (7) of the Constitution bars the king from making any interference in the daily operations of Cabinet, including nominating the Ministers for the king to appoint.
The Tongan people can be forgiven for thinking that King Tupou VI has done just that.
The Prime Minister and Hon. ‘Utoikamanu appear to have resigned after coming under intense pressure from the unelected Nobles’ MPS, some of whom seem to see themselves as the guardians of the King’s privileges.
Regrettably, but perhaps understandably, the Prime Minister seems to have buckled under that pressure.
As reported earlier, the Nobles sent the PM a letter saying: “We are the king’s cultural preservers (‘aofivala). Therefore, we propose that you and your government respect the king’s desire.”
This kind of bullying should be intolerable in a democracy.
Equally dangerous and, frankly, absurd is MP Piveni Piukala’s proposal to have the King hand- pick the Noble’s representatives for Parliament.
As we have argued before and argue again, this kind of behaviour smacks of the law of the jungle, not respect for the Constitution of a democratic nation.
The resignation of the Prime Minister and the Minister Foreign Affairs is a step backward for Tonga toward the dark ages. It will ruin Tonga’s fragile democracy. Hon. Hu’akavameiliku’s apparent submission to pressure from the Nobles means his name will never be included in the list of those who have stood up to defend Tonga’s democracy and constitution. The Attorney General was right in saying it was unconstitutional for the King to interfere with the Prime Minister’s power to nominate Ministers under Clause 5 of the Constitution.
The King and the PM must immediately clear the air and make it clear what has happened. The implications for democracy and for the kingdom are frightening and have led to serious concern about how this might play out.
Veteran Tongan journalist Kalafi Moala says the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs resigned before they flew to Niuafo’ou recently to meet the king. Moala claims that the Prime Minister has nominated the king’s son, Crown Prince Tupouto’a, to become the Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Moala claimed this alleged nomination and the resignation of the PM from Defence and ‘Utoikamanu from Foreign Affairs had been agreed between the king and the Prime Minister before the king accepted a request from the Prime Minister for the audience at Niuafo’ou.
For the King to act outside the Constitution and then to nominate his son, if true, would be a serious threat towards our Constitution. Moala has also claimed that the king’s daughter could also be nominated for a Cabinet position. Should any of this come to pass it would truly be a step back into the dark ages when Tonga was an absolute monarchy in which the ordinary people had no say.
One of the thing which gave impetus to the push for change in Tonga, led by the Defender of Democracy ‘Akilisi Pohiva, was the litany of corruption and abuses of power involving the monarchy in the years before 2010. This included the illegal passport sales, during which US$50 million proceeds were lost and in which King Tupou IV was implicated, and the collapse of Royal Tongan airlines.
Six people have been arrested after two separate alleged supermarket thefts in Auckland.
File photo. Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
In one incident, police received a report a trio had allegedly left the supermarket in Highland Park in east Auckland without paying on Sunday afternoon, Inspector Rakana Cook said.
“Customers had alerted staff members to the theft after seeing them walk out without paying and load their vehicles with unpaid groceries.
Cook said two siblings were arrested after trying to flee on foot.
“A third person, a son of one of the others arrested, was taken into custody after being stopped a short distance away with a carload of groceries.”
It was estimated that the six trolleys worth of groceries the trio allegedly took was worth $16,000.
A man, 35, is scheduled to appear in the Manukau District Court on 28 March charged with three counts of shoplifting.
A woman, 25, is charged with one count of shoplifting and will reappear in the Manukau District Court on 15 April.
An 18-year-old will appear in the Manukau District Court.
In a separate incident, police were alerted to three men leaving a supermarket on Manukau Road in Pukekohe with a shopping trolley full of meat products around midday on Saturday, Inspector Joe Hunter said.
“They then walked through the self-checkout without paying, while also threatening a member of the public who had confronted them during the incident.
“The offenders left the store and loaded the stolen meat into a vehicle in the car park and drove away.”
Inspector Hunter said officers were able to find the vehicle because a member of the public noted the number plate and passed that information to police.
“In Drury, a police unit signalled for the driver to stop on Great South Road which he did, and the stolen meat was found inside.
Three men were taken into custody without incident,” he said.
The meat, valued at about $750, was recovered and returned to the supermarket.
“Following enquiries, we have laid additional charges over an earlier incident at a Pōkeno supermarket on 21 March where around $1000 in meat products were stolen,” said Inspector Hunter.
Two men, 39 and 25, were scheduled to appear in the Pukekohe District Court on 27 March facing multiple shoplifting charges.
A third man, 28, was also set to appear on shoplifting charges but faced a separate charge of speaking threateningly.
Authorities have publicly released the names of suspects in murder of patched Head Hunters member Charles Pongi during a large East Auckland gang brawl last year.
Charles Pongi
They were Vili Laungaue and Lika Feterika.
A New Zealand Herald report this afternoons said: ”The duo were initially among six men – some charged with murder, others charged with lesser offences alleged to have occurred on the same day – who had intended to seek continuing name suppression during a High Court at Auckland hearing earlier this month”.
“A judgment released to the Herald today indicates suppression for Laungaue and Feterika has now lapsed, while the identities of three others will be revealed next month unless those defendants opt to take their failed name suppression bids to the Court of Appeal for a second look”.
The revelation comes after a homicide investigation was launched earlier this year following the death of the 32-year-old, who was alleged to have been shot when more than 70 gang members from the Head Hunters, Rebel MCs, and associates converged on the Taurima Reserve in Pt England on 5 August for an intended brawl.
Pongi, 32, was shot in Taurima Reserve before he took himself to hospital but died that same night.
Five men initially charged in relation to Pongi’s death all appeared in court in December.
Four men had been charged with murder and were all in their 20s, while another man has been charged with assault, discharging a firearm with the intention of intimidating members of the Head Hunters gang and unlawful possession of a firearm.
An investment analysis shows the government should continue funding the free school lunches programme, a University of Auckland researcher says.
Supporters say free school lunches boost attendance, attention and help feed children who can go hungry when cupboards are bare. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The Public Health Communication Centre used investment analysis to look at the expected outputs of the Ministry of Education- provided Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches programme to how well it was completing its goals.
Associate Minister of Education David Seymour recently announced plans to review funding of , saying 10,000 lunches were being wasted each day. The programme is funded to feed more than 230,000 pupils until the end of the year, at a cost of about $325 million, but Seymour said funding could be cut by up to half.
Educators and child advocates have vocally opposed reducing funding, saying the healthy food helps reduce truancy, supports concentration in the classroom, and feeds hungry children when they sometimes miss out at home.
The University of Auckland study looked at 21 outputs measured across the programme, with 16 of those being rated has done “excellent” or “good.”
These included reducing the financial burden of food on disadvantaged households, alleviating hunger at school and promoting healthy eating.
The one element it did poor at was “certainty of continuity of the programme”, due to the funding for it currently not going beyond December this year.
Professor Boyd Swinburn told RNZ that with the economic credentials coming out of the programme the government could not pull out of it without heavily impacting childrens’ education and health.
“What I would like to see is that the government take these economic credentials and look at ways the programme can be expanded to reach more schools.”
Swinburn said schools currently running the programme have “no idea whether its going to continue into the future.”
“If the programme was going to continue then that would give them much more confidence to be able to get better systems in place, become more efficient, find other supply chains for local foods, train up more staff and so on, but the incentive is just not there at the moment because of the uncertainty.”
A senior government official says the Prime Minister has resigned as Minister of Defence in order to appease the king.
King Tupou VI (L), Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku
The Tongan Independentreported today that Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni Hu’akavameiliku and Minister Utoikamanu of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had resigned from the portfolios.
Senior sources within the Tongan government have told Kaniva News they believe reports that the Prime Minister has resigned.
Kaniva News has contacted Prime Minister and Chief Secretary for confirmation of the report and is waiting for a response.
The Independent has adopted a strongly anti-Sovaleni tone, criticising the government’s involvement in Lulutai airlines, claiming he was too ill to serve and that he and Utoikamanu were trying to usurp King Tupou VI’s authority.
It is understood that the Prime Minister had flown to Niuafo’ou to meet His Majesty
Relations between the Prime Minister and the throne have been tense since the king issued a memo saying he no longer supported Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku as the Minister for His Majesty’s Armed Forces and Hon. Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Tourism.
The Prime Minister ignored the king’s memo.
As we reported earlier, the Nobles responded by demanding that the Prime Minister and Hon. Utoikamanu resign immediately in order to assuage King Tupou VI’s disappointment.
The Nobles circulated a letter which described the Prime Minister’s refusal to accept the King’s show of power as very concerning and intimidating the peace of the country.
“We are the king’s cultural preservers (‘aofivala). Therefore, we propose that you and your government respect the king’s desire,” the letter read in Tongan.
“The king has withdrawn his confidence and consent from you as Defence Minister as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism Fekitamoeloa ‘Utoikamanu.
“We urge you to resign immediately from the Ministry of Defence as well as Fekitamoeloa ‘Utoikamanu to resign from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism”.
This is not the first time the king has directly interfered in the workings of a democratically elected government.
The king is said to have been heavily influenced by certain of his Privy Councillors, including Lord Tu’aivakanō, who advised him to dissolve the government of the late ‘Akilisi Pohiva in 2017.
Lord Tu’aivakanō justified his behaviour by claiming that Hon. Pohiva’s government wanted to remove the Privy Council’s role in appointing positions like the Police Commissioner and Attorney General.
As we wrote at the time: “Lord Tu’ivakano said it was clear the government was trying to wear away the powers of the King and Privy Council, which he could not abide.”
Pohiva’s government was re-elected.
Lord Tu’aivakanō is said to have signed the Noble’s letter criticising the Prime Minister.’s
‘Oku ‘i lalo heni ha lingi (link) ke ke kiliki ai ke ke lau ‘a e fakamatala fakaTonga‘
EDITORIAL: Member of Parliament Piveni Piukala’s proposal to revoke Tonga’s current nobility electoral system to allow the king to hand pick them for Parliament would be a fatal blow to Tonga’s fragile democracy.
L-R: MP Piveni Piukala, Dr Sūnia Foliaki, Late Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva, Saia Tūlua and Kaniva Tonga News Editor Kalino Lātū. Photo/Kalino Lātū
It flies in the face of the principle that lies at the heart of our unfinished democracy, which is that the government must reflect the will of the people.
The current electoral system allows members of the 33 nobles to elect their own nine MPs to Parliament.
Before Tonga’s incomplete democratic reforms of 2010, a Constitutional and Electoral Commission (CEC) chaired by the former Chief Justice Gordon Ward was tasked with recommending the best public submissions for the political reforms.
Some of those submissions received by CEC portrayed the election of the nine MPs to Parliament as a big problem to the democratic reforms.
Many people proposed removing the Nobles from Parliament or having them elected by all eligible voters, not just other Nobles.
However, the CEC said that although it may seem undemocratic, if elected by the whole electorate, it was likely that the same Nobles would keep being returned to Parliament because voting would be based on ties of kāinga and ha‘a.
The CEC believed that it was better to just keep the Noble MPs being elected by their peers and leave it to see if this practice withstood the test of time.
The CEC said: “We define democracy by more than the right to elect a representative parliament. Much that truly defines democracy is already enshrined in traditional Tongan values. … at this stage, we feel the continued presence of the Nobles in the new and untried representative Parliament will be accepted by most Tongans as a sensible and, possibly, necessary influence.”
Unfortunately, the CEC’s other positive recommendations were not adopted after the then Lord Sevele’s government went its own way and approved its own submission through Parliament.
Four years after Wards’ review, Peter Pursglove, a legal consultant in Constitutional Law from Trinidad and Tobago, reviewed the 2010 consultation on behalf of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Pursglove’s review largely supported the findings of Ward’s constitutional review.
Pursglove said Tonga’s 2010 constitution, which was produced by Lord Sevele’s government, was poorly written, promoted secrecy, compromised the role of the judiciary and parts of it may have been illegal.
Last week, Piukala, one of the leading democratic MPs from PTOA bloc, maintained that if the king chose the nine MPs, they would be held more accountable.
He argued that under his proposal the king would act as a “fakapalanisi”, or a political authority who balanced the Nobility’s role in Parliament and crossing the line into corruption.
He claimed that in this way good governance could be upheld.
Perils to democracy
Judging the merit of Piukala’s proposal from a democratic check and balance point of view, it is not only fallacious, but it would destroy the energies and efforts of those who pioneered the fight for Tonga’s democracy from 1970s before it came into fruition in 2010. This includes hundreds of thousands of dollars donated by the New Zealand and Australian governments to assist the political reform.
The purpose of checks and balances in a democracy is to make sure no one power emerges from either the government, or the legislature, the judiciary and or even the media to become dominant and control everybody else. Checks and balances helps maintain good governance and can only work effectively if our political system offers a level playing field where power imbalances can be easily levelled out.
Piukala’s proposal would adversely boost the king’s power with more opportunity to take control of a centralised government through his handpicked noble MPs.
Under our current system the king is barred by the Constitution from getting involved in the Cabinet. However, Piukala’s proposal opens the possibility for the king to have the power to influence Cabinet through his nobles.
Centralised government
If those noble MPs were also elected by the Prime Minster to become Cabinet Ministers, this could mean the power of the king would then extend from the Parliament and indirectly infiltrate the executive branch through these nobles, making a centralised government more unbalanced and unchecked because the king is accountable to no one, according to the Constitution. This would be devastating to Tonga’s fragile democracy.
Centralising power in the king is injurious to our struggle for an open, democratic society. Our society needs to operate on the principles of free speech, which benefits both the opposition as well as those in power. Our society is currently being left in the dark after the Hu’akavameiliku government told the king his recent letter expressing his disappointment with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence was unconstitutional and the Prime Minister was still confident in the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
This was big news which was also covered by the Pacific region media including Australia and New Zealand. However, the king’s Privy Council and the government have still not released any information to update the media and the public. This is not a good sign of our democracy and if we allow Piukala’s proposal it would only worsen the situation.
Current problems
Under the current system, the king has not always accepted requests from Prime Ministers for a regular audience to update him on the governments’ operations according to the constitution. It has been alleged that this was because the king was disappointed with the Prime Ministers. We talked to some of these prime ministers, including late ‘Akilisi Pōhiva, and he said he was willing to discuss the king’s reaction with him if he was allowed to meet, but this did not happen. The king has yet to appoint ministers nominated by the current Prime Minister a year ago, with no word on why he did not appoint them.
These two simple incidents beg the questions of who is going to hold the king to account for his failure to act quickly and appoint the ministers so that the government can do its job for the people. Who is going to tell the king he was wrong to snub the Prime Ministers who asked for an audience with him?
The nobility
The nobles have already been seen to be injurious to our half-cooked democracy since 2010. The illegal handover of the Chinese $90 million grant to the king’s sister Princess Pilolevu Tuita and her Friendly Islands Satellite Communications Ltd also known as Tongasat was facilitated by the nobility-back government of Lord Tu’ivakanō. Nobles were also allegedly involved in Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa’s failed $400 million roading project.
The sad thing about this is that no one can challenge the king and his nobles. Giving more power to the king can only inflate his already powerful status. For Piukala to make such a presumptuous proposal to allow the king to appoint his nobles to Parliament would only make our current disastrous political situation worse. Piukala must be reminded that any proposal to improve our currently poor political system must be based on the principles of democracy which is at the core of the people’s will and their rights to elect their leaders.
At its 40th anniversary, Shincheonji pledges to become the light of the world and share love through volunteering.
Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (hereinafter referred to as Shincheonji Church of Jesus) held a commemorative ceremony and service at the Cheongpyeong Shincheonji Peace Training Center in South Korea to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Over 300 members from New Zealand participated in the event on-site and via a live stream.
On the morning of March 14th, Chairman Man-hee Lee gave a sermon during a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of the founding of Cheongpyeong Shincheonji Peace Training Center.
The commemoration ceremony on this day was prepared as an opportunity to look back on the growth of Shincheonji Church of Jesus since its founding on March 14, 1984, and its contribution to communities around the world. In addition, plans and visions for the year ahead were shared, and pledges were made to fulfill the role of the church in society, to serve and practice being the light and salt of the world.
Shincheonji Church of Jesus Volunteering efforts have been ongoing for 38 years with such activities as helping disadvantaged communities, environmental cleanups, community revival projects, and supporting sporting events.
Blood donation drives began in 2008 with approximately 5,000 volunteers participating every year. Then in 2022, Shincheonji Church of Jesus achieved a Guiness World Record™ for having the most people sign up as blood donors online within one day.
Last year Shincheonji volunteers launched the “We Are Run” marathon. In New Zealand alone, over 200 runners participated in the event to raise funds for mental health.
Other volunteering activities in New Zealand included beach cleanups, Auckland flood relief support, seniors’ lunches and mental health workshops.
According to volunteer-related data compiled by Shincheonji Volunteer Corps, a total of 750,851 people received support from Shincheonji volunteers, and a cumulative number of 49,768 days was devoted to volunteering.
In the commemorative service of the 40th anniversary of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Chairman Lee explained the significance and background of the church’s steady growth and devotion to communities, saying, “Shincheonji Church of Jesus had a very humble beginning. However, many people have come to this day because God sent angels from heaven as stated in the Bible.”
On the morning of March 14th, a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of the founding is being held at the Shincheonji Peace Training Center in Cheongpyong, South Korea.
He continued, “Jesus also gave up his whole body to do God’s will. So today, we must not have blind faith, but we must know God”. He added, “We must follow God’s will and reach out to our neighbors.” “We must love one another,” he emphasized.
Lastly, he said, “The number of people learning about the Book of Revelation, which is God’s purpose written in the Bible, is increasing. I am grateful,” and added, “Let’s ensure that more people are saved through the Word. Let’s work together to create a better world.”
Members of Shincheonji learn to love and serve through the teaching of the Bible by realizing God’s will in the book of Revelation. This is the reason why Shincheonji Church of Jesus has achieved continuous expansion without a single year of negative growth since its founding, despite an atmosphere of global Christian stagnation.
Since the establishment of the Zion Christian Mission Center in June 1990, there has been a steady increase in the number of graduates. At the 110th graduation ceremony in 2019, there were 103,764 graduates. Afterward, in 2022 and 2023, 106,186 and 108,084 students completed the course, respectively, enrolling more than 100,000 students for two consecutive years.
The efforts to love and serve were also recognized within Christian communities and memoranda of understanding (MOUs) were signed with 9,905 churches in 78 countries. 1,382 churches in 38 countries changed their church signage to Shincheonji Church of Jesus, recognizing the excellence of its teachings and wanting to participate in the work of serving the communities.
Starting this year, Shincheonji plans to create a new and brighter world by devoting to regular volunteer initiatives, keeping in mind specific needs and challenges in local communities.
Shincheonji Church Youth volunteers were listed in the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ for the challenge of Most people signing up as blood donors online in 24 hours.
An official from the Shincheonji Volunteer Group said, “Heaven gives us light, rain, and air freely. “I want to love and serve freely, just as I received it freely,” he said, and pledged, “I will shine the light in all corners of the world and spread warmth with the spirit of service that I learned from heaven.”
He continued, “For the past 38 years, we have been spreading love to our neighbors and seeking out places in society that need our service first,” adding, “We will continue to faithfully fulfill our role as light and salt without hesitation.”
About Shincheonji, Church of Jesus New Zealand:
Shincheonji was established in 1984 in Seoul, South Korea, and has since grown exponentially with branch churches in more than 100 countries internationally and a congregation of more than 300,000 members. Shincheonji New Zealand was opened in 2015. Already increasing in size with each year, there is an explosive growth forecasted and big plans for the Pacific region as well.
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific Journalist, and is republished with permission
University of the South Pacific staff unions are giving management “one more chance to come to the table” before they go on strike.
Aggrieved employees of the university showed up dressed in black, holding placards calling for “fair pay” and for Pal Ahluwalia to resign late last month. Photo: Association of The University of The South Pacific Staff
On Wednesday, the staff association received the secret ballot outcome from Fiji’s Labour Ministry, which confirmed that they had a mandate for strike action.
Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) general-secretary Rosalia Fatiaki told RNZ Pacific that staff have agreed to return to management to give them one last opportunity to meet the unions demands.
“We [are giving management] one more chance to come to the table and in good faith, let’s look at this. Hopefully we are able to resolve the issues that led us to take this action. By next week we expect a response,” she said.
Fatiaki said the USP management will be given a week to meet with the unions and 21 days to come to an agreement, adding if the management do not come to the table “the next course of action is strike action”.
“When staff go on strike the students are the people that will be most affected. That’s why we’re giving management another chance.”
Fatiaki said the unions are expecting management to negotiate a new offer.
On 6 March, AUSPS cast a secret ballot where 96 percent of its members voted in favour of strike action above the needed majority threshold.
Fatiaki said management had refused to negotiate salary adjustments and that is why staff might strike.
She said staff missed out on salary adjustments in 2019 and 2022.
The regional university gave staff a two percent pay rise in October 2022, January 2023, and January this year.
Rosalia Fatiaki Photo: Facebook / Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff
However, Fatiaki said it is “way below” the increase needed to match the cost of living in Fiji and unions were not consulted.
She said USP used to contribute an additional two percent above the national minimum for its superannuation contribution to senior staff but this was reduced to the minimum during Covid-19 and has not returned which the union is demanding.
She said USP had not engaged with the union but has cited financial reasons for withholding pay.
Late last month, AUSPS members staged a protest calling for the resignation of the university’s vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia for not being responsive to the unions concerns.
In a statement to RNZ Pacific, the USP confirmed that “it has received the outcome of the secret ballot strike action”.
“USP reiterates that it is fully engaged in the process with AUSPS and Union and welcomes further negotiations to reach an amicable solution,” it said.
Rosalia Fatiaki Photo: Facebook / Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff