His Excellency Mr. John Howard (February 18th 2003)
The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Australia

Your Excellency,

RE: THE ZIMBABWE CRISIS AND THE COMMONWEALTH TROIKA

Thank you for your most considerate response to various appeals in the past, for your commendable able leadership and morally justifiable stance, on the above matter.

Your Excellency, once again your able leadership is being called for; in the face of what clearly appears to be the moral incapacitation of the other members of the Commonwealth Troika.

We understand, from recent news media reports, that the African members of the Commonwealth Troika appear to have abandoned their duties under the mandate for the Troika; that they seem to see no reason nor purpose in meeting with you to consider the issues for which the Troika was established and empowered.

Understandably, these morally truant members of the Troika are supposed to know and understand that, as members of the Troika, they act not for themselves nor for their cronies; that as members of the Troika they are supposed to act for the Commonwealth and for the peoples of the Commonwealth – by virtue of the Commonwealth mandate for the Troika.

Never before have the hopes and dreams of so many – as embodied in the noble ideals of the Commonwealth – been so shamelessly betrayed by so few…

But, be that as it may, forgive them: for, in our view, they know not what they do – the good governance shameful pretensions of the NEPAD notwithstanding.

Had the NEPAD been a democratic institution, truly founded on true democratic values and traditions, these conscience challenged morally dilliquent members of the Troika would not have played moral truancy with such fundamental values, credibility and prestige of the Commonwealth; nor would they have been so seriously afflicted by this apparent NEPAD style collective absence of conscience.

As a surviving (active) member of such much betrayed Commonwealth Troika, and for the sake of moral probity within the mandate of the Troika, please facilitate the imperatives of continuity and the upholding of Commonwealth values.

Our generation of the peoples of the Commonwealth expect no more, and no less, from your able leadership as a surviving member of the Troika.

And as for this generation of African Commonwealth moral truants-cum-leaders, time and history will be the best judge for that; for such apparent monumental absence of conscience will not be forgotten any time soon.

Sincerely,

Thabo Siziba & Mthulisi Ndlovu