What is imperative is for all opposition parties to close ranks and make the wishes of the Zimbabwean electorate a reality. In any run-off or re-run of the Presidential Election the support for Morgan Tsvangirai should be total and unconditional. There will be neither equivocation nor ambiguity on that subject. He represents the change that Zimbabweans voted for. The people spoke on the 29th of March. They seek no accommodation with the Dictator or any of his manifestations. All democratic forces must stand with the people in pursuit of the total annihilation of Robert Mugabe and all he stands for.
Arthur G.O. Mutambara, 18 April 2008

To my fellow Zimbabweans I cannot speak to you on the national media, but I speak to you from my heart - that freedom comes and your voice and your vote shall be heard.
Morgan Tsvangirai, 17 April 2008

Statement made by President Morgan Tsvangirai: 17 April 2008

Today on the eve of Independence Day in Zimbabwe, I'm here to thank the World for the help you are giving the liberation struggle of our nation.

This is, in many ways, the saddest Independence Day since our independence from colonial rule in 1980.

Our people are literally starving; Zimbabwe is amongst the worst humanitarian crisis of this new century.

Our humanitarian crisis has political roots, and that gives us hope, because political problems have political solutions.

By any of the normal indices by which one judges the success of a leader of a modern nation state, he is a failure, and an abject failure at that. Yet still, after 28 years of disastrous rule, he remains at the helm and, incredibly, at the age of 84 he is putting himself forward again as a candidate - ZANU PF's only official candidate - for a further term as President of Zimbabwe. Such is the overwhelming arrogance of the man, Robert Mugabe. And that, with such a record of shame, he should have even the remotest prospect of prolonging his tenure in office, is testament only to the experience and expertise his regime has acquired in defying the democratic process.

At independence in 1980, Zimbabwe seemed poised on the threshold of an era of great promise. That independence was won at the cost of a bitter and protracted civil war, but now the proud nation was bursting with new confidence. Robert Mugabe was widely acclaimed as a hero - a revolutionary leader who had committed to the cause of reconciliation and the path of pragmatism. Western governments were falling over themselves in the rush to provide offers of aid. In the general euphoria then prevailing Julius Nyerere of Tanzania counselled Mugabe: "You have inherited a jewel. Keep it that way."