Dear Minister
As you must be aware by now, The Sunday Independent (the South African newspaper) of January 7 2001 carried an article headed "Africa has failed to halt Mugabe".
The article reproduced comments made by Peter Hain, your colleague, including the one above.
We found the comments deeply offensive and the fact that Hain saw fit to make these public statements in our country, without discussing them with our government, is confirmation of the contempt in which he holds that government.
Hain knows that the British, Zimbabwean and South African governments, among others, agreed to work with the United Nations secretary-general and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to address the Zimbabwe land question.
The UNDP is continuing this work and has very recently been in contact with us.
And yet, Hain suddenly announces that this "constructive engagement seems to have failed". We would have appreciated it if the British government had formally told us that this is the determination it has made.
We will continue to work with the UN secretary-general and the UNDP on the Zimbabwe land question and will also request the government of Zimbabwe to continue to do so.
We would also have appreciated it if the British government had advised us that it considers Zimbabwe a "pariah state".
This is the meaning that attaches to this extraordinary statement made by Hain that "Mugabe has created a police-state climate comparable to the one that imprisoned him".
As Hain knows very well what the white minority regimes did in the former Southern Rhodesia, as well as the fact of their illegitimacy, we find this statement very ominous.
We certainly do not appreciate that Hain decided to make this statement in our country.
As you know, our president has been in contact with Tony Blair, the Britain's prime minister, on both Zimbabwe and the Aids questions.
We find it most remarkable that the British government should choose to inform us of its views on these matters, as they relate to us, through the media.
Taken together, all these issues have raised serious questions in our minds about the nature of our relations with the British government and the manner in which we should interact in future.
Among other things, we are concerned about their implications with regard to the state visit of our President to the United Kingdom later this year.
As minister of foreign affairs, I am under pressure within South Africa and our region publicly to comment on the British government's views expressed by Hain.
I will, in due course, issue a considered statement on these matters. I would, however, appreciate your confirmation that, on all the matters he addressed, Hain was reflecting the views of the British government.
Yours sincerely
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma