The Afega group, named in a recent court case as ‘nu’u o Savea ma Pito Faalogo’, decided yesterday at their first meeting of the year to question the decision regarding the Gatoaitele title of Savea Porotesano Malifa (Savea).

On Friday 8 December 2023 the Land and Tiles First Court voided the appointment of   Savea and ordered the registrar to remove the title Gatoaitele of Porotesano Malifa from the register of Samoan matai.

The six-page decision briefly sets out the arguments of the petitioning party of Maulolo Tavita Amosa, Ututaaloga Charlie Ulia and twenty other Afega matai, a group the court calls:Alii ma Faipule.

They argued that: 10. E leai se Gatoaitele i faalupega o Afega. E leai se matai e suafa ia Gatoaitele i le nu’u o Afega. Na gata lava le Gatoaitele i le taimi o Gatoaitele, le afafine o Malietoa La’auli ma Gauifaleai. (There’s no Gatoaitele in the honourific titles of Afega nor is there a matai by that name. Gatoaitele’s time ended at the time of Gatoaitele, the daughter of Malietoa Laauli and Gauifaleai.)

 Later the court said: Ua faamalieina lenei su’esu’ega o le te’ena o le suafa Gatoaitele, e leai sona faalupega, leai se pou i le saofaiga ma ua uma ona tofi le nu’u o Afega. A fua i le Malietoa Laauli o le lona 14 o auga nofo o le Malietoa  poo le tausaga e 1600, e suli mai ai Gatoaitele, ae faatoa faatino mai ai se suafa matai i le 2014, o lona uiga ua 414 tausaga. O le vaivai lea o le finauga a le itu tetee, ae talia ai le finauga a le itu talosaga o le suafa Gatoaitele o se matai fou. Ae o loo matamata tetele i faalupega o Afega “susu mai Fata ma Maulolo ma le lua fale na ta’ita’i o tuitui o le Gatoaitele.

(This examination is satisfied with the rejection of the title Gatoaitele, it has no honouric title, no post in the ranks of matai, and Afega has already been appointed. If we note Malietoa Laauli was the 14th holder of the Malietoa title about the year 1600, from which Gatoaitele descends, and a matai title was appointed only in 2014, this means it has been 414 years since. This is the weakness of the argument by the responding party, and thus the argument by the petitioning party is accepted that the Gatoaitele is a new matai. However, it is glaringly apparent in the honorific titles of Afega: welcome Fata and Maulolo and your hand-carried house, the tuitui (companions?) of the Gatoaitele.)

The court gives other reasons for its decision but the above are the parts where we would like to ask some questions and make some comments.

If there was no Gatoaitele until 2014, what have Fata and Maulolo being tuitui to during all these years?

And if there was no Gatoaitele,, where did Dr. Augustin Kramer get his faalupega of Afega that ends with: ma lo tou Ali’i o le Gatoaitele? That book was published in 1901.

If Gatoaitele is a new matai, where did Aiono Dr Fanaafi Le Tagaloa get her faalupega in her book: FAASINOMAGA which was published in 1997 I think?

Lastly, I mean no disrespect to Maulolo and Ututaaloga and all members of the petitioning party, especially those who hold the title Fata or Maulolo, as I have held the Fata title since 1967, the title Ulufale-Seuseu since 1998, and my family also conferred on me the title Maulolo, which is now under dispute and may soon be settled.

So, I would ignore being named simply Pito Faalogo in the petitioning party’s statement.

I also apologise to the Court if in asking these questions, I have exceeded my right as a litigant, as I hope I have posed the right questions.

As someone has written: The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.

Manuia le aso.