Tsvangirai's statement to the people of Zimbabwe

Fellow Zimbabweans, I write to express my heartfelt thanks to you all for the overwhelming support you continue to give me in my temporary period of indisposition.

The personal messages and the support you are giving me and my family is humbling. I want to thank you all for that awesome support to the party and the family, including my loving wife who is by my side as I return to full recovery.

I am equally aware, however, of the morbid wishes of some of my fellow countrymen. But I want to assure them that Morgan Tsvangirai will soon be back to be the usual pain to those at the helm of mis-governance; those who oppress the people and who are turning a blind eye to all this sickening poverty around us. I remain fully aware of and concerned with what we are all going through collectively as a people and as a country.

I am told that they have closed the country down today. All the suffering and struggling vendors have been asked to close shop and join a march to prop up the ego of Robert Mugabe. It is lost on them that it is the country--and not the people--that must be on a brave march to stability and progress.

To friends and foe alike, I want to assure you that I am recovering. I assure you that I must not be the cause of any national uncertainty.  The irony is that yes, I may be indisposed, but I am more worried about my country and its economy that seem to be in a far much worse state than my personal state of health. It is the country that we all love that needs urgent healing.  It is our country that must be the biggest worry for all of us, not only for our personal sake but for the sake of the legacy we must leave behind for future generations.

Rest assured, I am on the path to full recovery and I will be joining you soon to continue with the struggle for freedom, peace, democracy and national prosperity.

I wish you all a happy Africa Day.