“The
United States should make decisions on Zimbabwe from an informed position and
stop reading only the text of opposition political parties that are afraid of
elections, President Mnangagwa has said,” reported the Herald.
“He said the US, which last week proposed multiple prescriptive reforms as a precondition for re-engagement with Zimbabwe, should have an appreciation of the situation on the ground to make rational decisions.”
“He said the US, which last week proposed multiple prescriptive reforms as a precondition for re-engagement with Zimbabwe, should have an appreciation of the situation on the ground to make rational decisions.”
What the
Americans are saying is if you, President Mnangagwa, are serious about holding
free, fair and credible elections then you and your government must make sure
you have a free media, you keep the Army out of the election process, etc.,
etc. Of course, the American are very well informed because these are the same
reforms that SADC spelt at the beginning of the GNU and many Zimbabweans have
been demanding for years.
The
Americans certainly have a great “appreciation of the situation on the ground”.
They appreciate that Zimbabwe will never get out of the economic mess and
political paralysis the nearly four decades of Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical
rule have landed the nation into. Implementing the reforms to allow for the
holding of free, fair and credible elections is the cure to Zimbabwe’s economic
meltdown and sickness of bad governance.
No one is
being fooled by President Mnangagwa’s double talk. He has been promising free
and fair elections and yet has refused to implement the reforms to make this
possible.
Indeed, he
has paid the Chiefs their traditional bribe so they can carry out their usual
task of intimidating and harassing rural voters to make sure they vote for Zanu
PF. He has appointed a well-known thug, Engelbert Rugeje, Zanu PF Political
Commissar, deployed the war veterans and 2 000 to 5 000 to work with the Chiefs
for the same purpose, etc.
If
President Mnangagwa was not afraid of holding free, fair and credible elections
then why has not implemented the reforms?
The
attempts by President Mnangagwa and his apologist to link the lifting of Western
imposed sanctions to implementing the democratic reforms and holding free and
fair elections is an insult to every thinking Zimbabwean for four reasons:
a) Zanu PF has always dismissed MDC
leaders as “puppets of the West”. Zanu PF must stop cherry; why is it when it
comes to imposing the sanctions the puppet is now accused of pulling the
strings.
b) When it comes to demanding the
democratic reforms, it is not what the opposition say that matters but what
ordinary Zimbabweans have been demanding but ignored by the regime for the last
38 years. The opposition, especially the corrupt and incompetent MDC
politicians do not represent the common people; not since they sold-out on
implementing regime during the GNU. The only reason many Zimbabweans are not
aware that MDC leaders are sell-outs is because there is no freedom of
expression and a free media.
c) Implementing the democratic reforms
will restore the people’s basic freedoms and human rights including the right
to free and fair elections and the right to life itself.
d) The right to a meaningful say in
the governance of the country is the key to ending the Zanu PF dictatorship and
getting a democratic and competent government. It is intolerable that Zanu PF
has resisted all demands for reforms on the foolish notion that the regime “cannot
reform itself out of office” as if it has a right to deny the people their freedoms
and rights. The linkage of democratic reforms to sanctions is an insult; our
human freedoms and right are inalienable rights not to be bargained over like
mangoes!
No,
President Mnangagwa it is you and your Zanu PF Junta who must understand that
Zimbabwe is your personal property to do with as you please, just as Mugabe has
done these last 37 years.
All those
who hold public office are and must always be democratically accountable to the
public, the people. The holding of free, fair and credible elections; in which
the people have their say on who hold public office and, if they should wish
it, have regime change; is the ultimate expression of that democratic
accountability.
Mr
Mnangagwa, if you and your Junta, fail to implement the democratic reforms to
guarantee free, fair and credible elections; it will be because you want to
hold on to the dictatorial power of the Mugabe years and thus hang on to the
Zanu PF dictatorship. We the silent majority, the voiceless povo, demand an end
to dictatorial rule.
If you do
not implement the reforms to end dictatorial rule, then the elections will be
declared null and void and some other administration appointed to implement the
reforms. Be informed, President Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe is not going to accept
another rigged election and that is not negotiable!
21 comments:
@ Tondorindo
"All pointers, so it seems, show a USA fighting to increase ranks of the poor," you say.
"An America that sadistically wishes to see people of my colour dressed like scarecrows, by the way I am black like two nights. They keep lifting the carrot higher and higher, throwing plenty spanners on Zimbabwe's works before the illegal sanctions can be lifted.
"Even advocating for unsavoury practices and implementing some awkward reforms that do not exist in their backyard. HE ED has adopted an open door policy, promising very free and totally fair elections where the whole world and international institutions have been invited to come and observe."
This is the usual nonsense we have heard a million and one times from Zanu PF and its army of apologist.
If it is sanctions that have made the millions of our people poor then why is it that the same sanctions have had absolutely no effect on the ruling elite many of whom have become filthy rich?
Whatever it is that has made the filthy rich has made the poor filthy poor and so let us follow the evidence. The filthy rich are rich because they have used their position in public office to loot and allowed their family and friends to do the same. It is the poor who have, directly or indirectly, paid Mugabe and his cronies' fabulous lifestyles, mansions, fleet of cars, multi-million dollar business empires, etc.
Two years ago, Mugabe admitted the country being swindled of $15 billion in diamond revenue. No one has ever been arrested, the coup plotters have done nothing. How can any country, much less one like Zimbabwe with a GDP of $10 billion, thrive given such wholesale looting?
The regime has blamed the country's economic meltdown on sanction without ever saying how sanction have caused these problems because the regime did not want to talk about the real causes such as corruption, mismanagement, etc.
The country has sunk this deep in the economic mess because for the last 38 years the nation was stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime that rigged elections to stay in power!
ED has promised free and fair elections and yet has pointedly refused to implement the democratic reforms to make free elections possible. He wants to hang on to the carte blanche draconian power to rig these elections and future elections too.
The right to free and fair elections is a basic human right only a tyrant would want to deny the people their basic freedoms and human rights. How ironic that ED should be asking for sanctions to be lifted as a carrot for him to implement the democratic reforms. This is as foolish as a man demanding that a neighbour must buy him beer, incentive, for him to stop beating his wife and children.
The people of Zimbabwe have been denied their right to free and fair elections for the last 38 years now. If President Mnangagwa does not implement the democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections then the elections will be declare null and void. He and his Junta will be told to step down and a transition authority who principle task will be to implement the democratic reforms will be appointed.
We know the regime is rigging these elections and we are not interested in these feeble excuses why it is doing so!
@ Chinono
I welcome these independent candidate be they contest Council or parliamentary seats. The more the merrier! My beef with any candidate is simply this: are you satisfied that these elections are free, fair and credible?
In answering that question please do not just consider urban areas when you are contesting, consider rural areas too. Just because the urban voter is comparatively free from the usual intimidating, harassment, beating, rape and even murder that does not mean the rural voter is safe too.
SADC leaders advised MDC leaders not to take part in the 2013 elections without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF cheating and using violence to win the elections. None of these reforms have been implemented and SADC's advice is as valid now as it was in 2013.
Zanu PF is rigging these elections even as we are speaking and by taking part in the elections people will, unwittingly, give the process credibility. By taking part in the urban centre people are saying elections are free, fair and credible not just in the urban areas but in the rural areas too.
If these independent candidate are telling the nation these elections are truly free, fair and credible right across the country then they are just as corrupt and incompetent as the MDC candidates!
It is as clear as day light that President Mnangagwa and his Junta do not want to give up their undemocratic powers to blatantly cheat and use wanton violence to make sure there is no regime change.
"Zanu PF ichatonga! Igotonga! Imi muchingohukura! Nokuhura!" (Zanu PF will rule! And rule! Whilst you [calling for free elections] bark! And bark!) was the first thing Mnangagwa told his Zanu PF hardliners and the world at large after the November coup.
He promised free and fair elections to entice the foreign investors knowing fully well he had no intention of keeping that promise. He knows that it is impossible to have free and fair elections without implementing the democratic reforms taking away Zanu PF's carte blanche powers to rig the elections. He and many of his Junta friends are the ones who had used these carte blanche powers to rig elections that have kept Mugabe and Zanu PF in power all these last 38 years. They may not agree on many issues but they are united on this one issue - they must not give an inch on reforms.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs were very pleased that at the end of the GNU in 2013, not even one reform had been implemented. One can only imagine how furious the Zanu PF team was with the SADC leaders in June 2013 for demanding that the elections must be postponed to allow reforms to be implemented. Fortunately for Zanu PF, they knew they could always bribe Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to ignore SADC leaders' advice and take part in the flawed elections.
Zanu PF had successful bribed MDC leaders to kick the reforms into the prickly pear thicket during the GNU the party had MDC leaders back on board contesting the flawed 2013 election within days of the SADC call. Zanu PF dangled a few gravy train seats and Tsvangirai and company found that irresistible.
President Mnangagwa has dangled the same few gravy train seats and already there has been 107 opposition parties saying they will contest this year's elections even thou they all know Zanu PF has refused to implement even one reform and therefore the elections will NOT be free, fair and credible.
What is infuriating President Mnangagwa is that the Americans are in fact restating the same demands SADC leaders made before the 2013 elections. He knows that this will make it near impossible for him to keep up the pretence these are free and fair elections.
The shrewd foreign investors who had shown some interest in his "Zimbabwe is open for business!" clarion call; will now take fright. Without the economic recovery his Junta regime, even if it was to get away with another rigged elections, will not last long!
The tragedy of Zimbabwe is that it is outsiders, SADC leaders, the Americans, the Canadians, etc. who have seen the sheer futility of contesting flawed elections and have been pushing for reforms BEFORE elections. Very few Zimbabweans have dare make the same demand and, sadly, many have already fallen by the wayside. As for the corrupt and incompetent opposition politicians, their eyes are glued on the bribes Zanu PF is dangling to care about anything or anyone else!
Part 1 of 2
@ Chikuni Gaba
A fly that does not listen will follow the corpse in the grave. Time and again we keep reminding the opposition of the need for electoral reforms but surprisingly the opposition continues giving us the cold shoulder. The key to unlock the chains that are shackling the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans is in having a free, fair and credible election, and that requires the implementation of electoral reforms first - not the sweet talks we hear at rallies or the de-campaigning of each other.
When SADC crafted a raft of electoral reforms in 2008 they gave the GNU 18 months to implement them but they failed to implement even one reform. Now we have 5 or less months to go for the 2018 general election but apparently we do not see that the government's reluctance in implementing these reforms is working in Ngwena's advantage. He keeps on buying time, preaching what he doesn't practice, he promises the whole world a free, fair and credible election yet we are already in the campaigning period and the opposition is being frustrated time and again.
At an MDC Alliance rally in Kwekwe, the alliance President Advocate Nelson Chamisa threatened to stop the elections if no reforms are implemented but I think with the little time left he was really referring to 2023 elections not this coming 2018 election.
Its either we run into Garwe's trap or we let him run a lonely race and the deciding time is now. Blaming SADC for letting us down during the GNU era is unfair. SADC played their part by coming up with electoral reforms which they tasked us push through and implement in 18 months but we failed. In 2013 they even warned us against participating in an election with no reforms but we turned them down and the election was rigged again. It is like we continue to play the Sekuru Gudo role in our Zim politics. At this juncture let me warn all opposition parties that we, the electorate, are now aware of night deals whilst during the day politicians call each other names of cource vana veibwa havasvinuri musi umwe.
Part 2 of 2
@ Chikuni Gaba
"The key to unlock the chains that are shackling the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans is in having a free, fair and credible election, and that requires the implementation of electoral reforms first - not the sweet talks we hear at rallies or the de-campaigning of each other," you said.
Sheer poetry! You have hit the bull's eye of the bull's eye!
Mugabe used his cunning to bribe Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC leaders to forget about implementing the democratic reforms by offering them the trappings of high office, ministerial limos, very generous salaries, a former white-own farm for Welshman Ncube, a $4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. With their snouts in the feeding trough MDC leaders heard and ignored all the SADC leaders' nagging for them to implement the reforms.
A few of the MDC leaders, like David Coltart, realised the folly of participating in the 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms but greed get the better of them too!
"The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn't now do the obvious - withdraw from the elections," admitted Senator Coltart in his book.
"The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."
Most of the MDC factions has since come back together to form the MDC Alliance and, guess what, there is no talk of boycotting the elections. As I said, greed got the better of that lot!
"The opposition parties must unite to make some quick decisions and adopt a common policy on electoral reforms or we are in for another 5 years of suffering," you argued.
You are wasting your time on that one, the reason why there are 107 opposition parties in the country is because we have more than our fair share of corrupt and incompetent people easily hypnotized by the promise of the gravy train lifestyle.
If we, the people, are serious about ending this insanity of taking part in flawed elections, so flawed SADC leaders characterised them as "done" a month before voting started, then we must start by accepting the political reality that the opposition politicians have their own agenda. They are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering as bait, they will never openly admit it; except in a book but even then, do so flittingly.
If we want free, fair and credible elections, the key to unlock the door out of the hell-on-earth we now find ourselves in, then it is up to us to demand the implementation of the reforms BEFORE elections. It is up to us, the people, to say loudly and clearly we will not take part in an election process whose result are already known. It is up to us to demand that these elections, which are going ahead with no reforms implemented, must be declare null and void!
@ Prosper
Nonsense, how is MDC fighting for the people by selling out? The people risked life and limb to elect these MDC idiots into office on the ticket they will implement the reforms and bring about democratic change. They failed to get even one reform implemented as Gaba rightly pointed out.
It is SADC, the Americans and a few Zimbabweans who are demanding that the reforms must be implemented first before the elections and it is none other than the same MDC idiots who are saying the elections should go ahead with not even one reform in place!
MDC and all the other equally corrupt and incompetent opposition opportunists tripping over each other to contest these flawed elections do not care that the elections are not free and fair. All they care about is winning the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is giving away as bait.
If we want free, fair and credible elections then we, the people, must first wake up to the political reality that MDC leaders are sleeping with the enemy and have been doing so since the GNU days. Those MDC supporters who keep following the likes of Chamisa and Biti are brainwashed sheep who do not know what is in their own interest!
@ Chokwadi
The Chiefs, Rugeje, war veterans, the 5 000 Army and all other Zanu PF operatives have been working round the clock to ensure the rural voters are all corralled ready to be frog marched to vote for Zanu PF when the time comes. NIKUV have been working with ZEC to ensure their schemes to deny opposition supporters the vote whilst allowing Zanu PF supporters to cast multiple votes deliver the desired Zanu PF landslide, etc.
These elections "are done", as SADC leaders would put it.
"The opposition should now know that, no matter how much noise we make Zanu pf will still make efforts to rig. Imbavha dzisina nyadzi. The opposition need a proper countering strategy and not mere talk," you say.
Which part of the elections are done are you failing to understand! If the elections are done, it means there in no "counter strategy" other than refusing to take any part in the process because doing so only gives the process credibility.
SADC, the Americans, etc. are all calling for the reforms to be implemented before the elections if you disregard their advice because you have "counter strategies" of winning rigged elections then you must not expect SADC or anyone to do anything after your strategies have failed!
Your "counter strategies" are nothing but feeble excuses to justify your insanity of contesting elections you can see yourself are being rigged!
@ B aged 29
The sanctions have been a decoy Zanu PF and its apologists have used to draw attention away from the real cause of the economic meltdown - corruption and mismanagement.
Are you denying that corruption and mismanagement are a problem?
If you accept these are a problem then why are you obsessed about the sanction over which you and me and the rest of ordinary Zimbabweans out there have no control but are saying nothing about the corruption and mismanagement which, by making sure there are free and fair elections for example, we can help end?
The sanctions argument has been discredited and you are get clutching at straws there!
ED is absolutely desperate to attract foreign investors and they are a lot smarter to be moved by these nonsensical sanctions claims.
ED must implement the democratic reforms and deliver on his promise to have free, fair and credible elections or ship out! He is not going to rig these elections and get away with it. The world is not going to wait for another one of his nonsensical "military assisted transition"!
@ 2018
What is the point of looking at policies, performance, etc. if elections are being rigged? The rural voters are not going to be frog marched to vote for a candidate because he/she has articulated sound policies. The argument is that the nation must implement the reforms to stop Zanu PF frog marching voters to vote for the party regardless of the party's performance.
Looking at party manifestos when elections are going to be rigged is a waste of time!
Zanu PF have become masters at telling people what they want to hear whilst the party continues to do what is in its selfish interest. ED will keep up the promise to hold free and fair elections and yet continue implementing the vote rigging schemes! He is lucky to have the corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders but is making angry is that SADC and the Americans are refusing to be easily conned!
@ Mbatatisi
Zanu PF has been rigging elections for all these last 38 years and, with no reforms implemented, it is rigging this year's elections. So, stop deluding yourself with all this nonsense of "ED has my vote!" Zanu PF has the veto and so your vote and mine are of no consequence!
@silungisn
Everyone knows that MDC leaders sold out on reforms during the GNU and they are selling -out now by agreeing to have elections with no reforms. What ED is doing is another matter.
ED promised to hold free and fair elections as part of his "new dispensation" thrust. Of course he could have implemented the reforms to ensure free and fair elections if he so wished. He did not want to do so. Indeed, he has been insulting those calling for reforms.
Zimbabwe is in a political and economic mess and ED and his Junta are naive if they think they can rig the elections and get away with it because holding free and fair election is now a pre-requisite for the country to get out of the mess.
ED was right to promise free and fair elections when he first got into power, he was accepting a political reality then. It is a pity that greed has fogged his thinking, he is now trying to fudge the elections, rig the elections and pretend they are free and fair! He is dealing with a lot smarter people this time - the foreign investors - they are a totally different breed to the easily bullied rural folk or the corrupt MDC politicians!
Trust me, Mnangagwa can try all his clever tricks he is not going to rig the elections and get away with it. "Penga udzoke!" (He is going nowhere!) as one would say in Shona!
@ JJ
Zanu PF has been rigging elections long before sanctions were imposed and there sanctions have just become an excuse. Why should Zimbabweans be denied their fundamental freedoms and rights because of what the American has done or have not done especially when the people have nothing to do with the sanctions?
ED must implement the reforms to ensure free and fair elections and stop giving feeble excuses for rigging the elections.
All talk of the coup bringing a new dispensation was just empty talk; the Zanu PF dictatorship is alive and thriving under new management. So even its propaganda lines have not changed, it is still blaming sanctions for all the country's ills including the outrage of Chiefs frog marching rural voters to vote for Zanu PF although it is the Junta that bribed the Chiefs with new trucks!
Well the Junta can fool the MDC idiots and their foolish followers the one group it will not fool is the investors. The expected flood of foreign investors ED was hoping for with all his "Zimbabwe is open for business!" clarion calls has not materialised. Investors do not do business is a country ruled by thugs, Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by vote rigging thugs!
@ JJ
Why lift them when they are not stopping the regime implementing the reforms? Lift them just to appease ED and then let him find another excuse for refusing to implement the reforms?
Zimbabwe's economic situation of 90% unemployment rate, 3/4 lining in abject poverty, etc. is unsustainable and with no foreign investment because no investor would like to do business in a country ruled by thugs, the Zanu Pf dictatorship is doomed!
It was not the sanctions that forced Mnangagwa and his coup posse to stage the November coup that forced Mugabe to go. The same force will force the people on the streets or another "military assisted transition", as ED called the November coup.
Teachers are paid $400 per month and they are demanding 100% pay increase!
ED's "Zimbabwe is open for business!" clarion call has had no takers. His refusal implement democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections have left no one in any doubt the Junta regime is the same old Zanu PF dictatorship by another name. Investors do not do business in countries ruled by thugs.
There is no hope of economic recovery without investors where is the regime going to get the money to pay the teachers, doctors, etc.?
To link sanctions with ED's refusal to implement democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections is to fail to appreciate that freedoms and human rights including the right to free and fair elections and the right to life itself are inalienable rights. It is not for Zanu PF to deny the people of Zimbabwe their rights or use them as something the regime can withhold in return for something else! Human rights are not mangoes one can bargain over!
ED says the government does not have the money to allow those in the diaspora to vote wherever they happen to be.
There are many other reforms inside Zimbabwe that ED has flatly refused to implement such as freeing the public media to ensure free and fair elections. What resources does he need to free ZBC, The Herald, etc. so they give equal coverage to all candidates?
@ Chikuni Gaba
“At an MDC Alliance rally in Kwekwe, the alliance President Advocate Nelson Chamisa threatened to stop the elections if no reforms are implemented but I think with the little time left he was really referring to 2023 elections not this coming 2018 election. Its either we run into Garwe’s trap or we let him run a lonely race and the deciding time is now,” you said.
You are right Chamisa was just grandstanding and posturing in making that threat. If we the people do not push for reforms MDC will contest in 2023 and making the same silver back gorilla threats everyone knows will come to nothing.
To go into these elections with no reforms in place is insane!
Gaba has blamed MDC leaders for failing to implement the democratic reforms if you think he is wrong then say so and say why!
The trouble with people like you Prosper is your mental intellect is so static you can only think A or B. You support the opposition, they are the good guys who can do no wrong and you do not support Zanu PF, they are the bad guys. You cannot stand anyone who dares criticise MDC regardless what evidence is produced to prove the sold-out, as in this case.
You need tp grow up and judge people on the basis of their performance, Just because Zanu PF leaders are corrupt and murderous thugs it does not mean MDC leaders are angels! The two have betrayed the nation and we should be smart enough to reject both Zanu PF and MDC and look for competent leaders out there!
ED is caught between the rock and the deep blue sea; he is damned if he implemented the democratic reforms because the Junta will not allow him to for fear they will lose free and fair elections.
He is damned if he does not implement the reforms and hold free and fair elections because he can forget all his hard work try to woo foreign investors. By failing to hold free and fair elections he might just as well pay for big bill board adverts proclaiming "Do not invest in Zimbabwe, the country is still ruled by vote rigging and lawless thugs!"
I must say, ED and his Junta friends had very little wriggle room; they are vote rigging and lawless thugs and have been for the last 37 years. They can never be honest farmers much less hold free and fair elections and be certain of holding on to power. And so they are trying the only next good thing open for them - pretend to be honest citizens committed to rule of law determined to hold free and fair elections.
There is a limit on how much one can get away with saying one thing and doing the exact opposite; President Mnangagwa and his Junta friends have reached that limit. There is nothing more embarrassing than lying to someone who KNOWS you are lying.
President Mnangagwa must know that everyone KNOWS that he is rigging the elections and they are just giving him a long rope with which to hang himself! Sadly for him, and his Junta they have gone too far to change now. If they think Mugabe's fall from grace was a crashing blow to the old man, their own fall will be even worse!
@ Manginde
ED is very pleased to hear that but just to be absolutely sure Zanu PF wins these elections and future elections the Junta has decided that it will retain its power to rig elections!
If these elections were just about the economy then ED will have my vote too. These elections are about whether Zimbabwe is now a law abiding nation that investors can trust? The acid test for that is for the regime to hold free, fair and credible elections and by flatly refusing to implement the democratic reforms everyone agrees are necessary for free and fair elections, they have clearly failed the test. The Junta is still the same vote rigging Zanu PF thugs wearing a different regalia!
Investors do not do business in pariah states, as we already know from the Mugabe years!
If ED is not going to bring about any economic recovery then it will be foolish to give him mine vote. You too will be unwise to give him your vote.
Indeed, with no reforms in place Zanu PF is rigging these elections which is you and me must reject these flawed elections. The message we must send to ED and the Junta is "No reform, no election!" and mean it!
ED is rigging the elections just as he has done countless times in the past and has done so with the help of people like you, Silungisn. You have taken it upon yourselves to help Zanu PF to deny the people their freedoms and rights and many of you have done more - you have carried out some of the harassment, beatings and worse. You were rewarded by the party for all your hard work.
As things stand, the elections are going ahead with no reforms; thanks in part to the MDC's incompetence. You are, once again on the winning side; ED will rig the elections and even get away with it. What more do you want, me to call you smart? There is nothing smart about being a sell-out!
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