Dear Mr President,

I am a loyal South African. I am also white, a fact that fills me with shame when I think back to our past. Our amazing and beautiful country has been able to grow and prosper over the last 14 years not due to the role of my kind but rather the amazing humility and good will of your kind. It leaves me weak at the knees when I think that humankind has the capacity to perform these magnanimous acts of generosity, even though society as a whole seems so rotten.

When I think of our neighbours, Zimbabwe, I am appalled. There has been so much in the news about them, and who knows how much is true or not. But we both know that these things we have heard about are not the things we would like to see happening in our country.

In fact, I have the utmost respect for the opposition politicians over there. These have to be people of the most amazing courage and determination. I can think of nothing worse than to be a marked man, but nothing better than dedicating one’s life to a worthwhile cause. I would think that you too would be able to relate to these people as their plight seems to be remarkably similar to a reality that you too have lived.

It grates me deep inside to think that there are people suffering incredible hardship on a daily basis as a result of injustice and greed. I don’t understand politics very well, nor do I understand world economics but I do understand right and wrong. And the things happening in Zimbabwe are just plain wrong!

I was too young to fight the old regime in our country but I certainly do not have that excuse now. My only issue is that I am not sure what I should be doing to ease the burden on my fellow man. I am morally outraged but surely outrage without action is just hypocrisy. I live with the shame of my white past, do I really need to add the shame of Zimbabwe too? I appeal to you as a man who understands the suffering of his people for advice on what I can do to help?

I sincerely hope that you and I can join hands again and together make this a better world for all.