The situation in Zimbabwe might have been different today had a bold initiative, of which Hugh Elliott was a key instigator, continued after the country's independence in 1980. Elliott was a moving spirit behind an influential group of black and white leaders in Rhodesia during the 1970s. Known as the 'cabinet of conscience'- a phrase believed to have been coined by Elliott - it had a notable impact on black-white relations and in defusing a potentially violent situation at the time of Zimbabwe's independence when Robert Mugabe came to power.
The informal group, who were inspired by the Moral Re-Armament (MRA) movement, met during the five years leading up to the elections that brought Mugabe to power. It included Alec Smith, the rebel son of the Rhodesian leader Ian Smith, and the Rev Arthur Kanodereka, a prominent nationalist leader whom Alec Smith had befriended.
In 1930 he won a Kitchener scholarship to read History at Hertford College, Oxford.
He set his hope on a career in the Colonial Service in Africa, in an age that doubted the morality of empire less than seeing it as an opportunity for selfless, and adventurous, service. But Elliott was hardly the diehard imperialist. He warmly welcomed the move of African nations to independence.
At Oxford his life was profoundly touched by Frank Buchman's spiritual movement, the Oxford Group, later Moral Re-Armament, and he welcomed Buchman's notion that God had a purpose for one's life, which could be revealed in early-morning times of silent prayer and reflection. This became a personal discipline that shaped Elliott's philosophy for the rest of his life.
