Tenby Powell is recharged after his exit
Tenby Powell is a man reborn. The former Tauranga mayor has come out of the maelstrom that was the city council in 2020 with an invigorated zest for life, a renewed appetite for business and the firm vow of never entering local government again.
It has been four months since Powell sparked chaos in the council chambers by resigning as mayor and calling for commissioners to be brought in. Days later he underwent surgery for cancer.
Today, the “huge” tumour that took over 55 per cent of Powell’s prostate has been removed and his PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood levels are looking good, for now. It appears that not much has slowed the 60-year-old down since.
Powell has ridden his Indian motorbike around the South Island, gone hunting off-the-grid, surfed behind a boat at Lake Rotoiti and grown a beard. The latter appears to be a visual reminder of the businessman-turnedpolitician experiencing life again on his terms.
Why the beard? “Because I can,” Powell says. Powell sits in Wharf St’s newly established dining precinct and smiles at the hustle and bustle of restaurants setting up for the day, people getting coffees and others holding meetings.
He doesn’t dispute the suggestion that he’s essentially living a version of his best life right now.
“I’m great. I’ve managed to get really fit over the summer, which was needed for this last week [hunting in remote South Island].”
" I love the bush and being out there to muck around and meditate."
Powell says his cancer diagnosis highlighted to him how easy it was to overlook personal health. Gradually, incremental pain became the norm when it shouldn’t have, he says.
“It seems to be the thing that lapses, everything else becomes more important than health and fitness. We need to change that.”
Powell’s shock departure from the council, and his cancer revelation, appear to have prompted a wave of kindness from strangers — some offering him hugs in the street and others advice for tackling his diagnosis.
In one example, a man offered Powell a year’s worth of selenium tablets due to their health benefits, which was gratefully accepted.
“It is so overwhelming, just the ‘how are you going?’, ‘Are you doing this, doing that?’. It’s lovely but I can’t reply to it all, there’s not enough hours in the day.
“I was out for dinner the other day and there was a lady who asked me ‘are you Tenby Powell?’ and I thought ‘uh oh’ and said ‘yes’. She came up and just grabbed me and said ‘thank you for what you’ve done for the city’.
“This happens regularly. Not a week goes by where I don’t get a hug from someone saying ‘thank you’.”
Powell’s thoughts on his fellow elected members, the bitter unravelling of the council and the