Is the cliché "youth are the leaders of tomorrow" just a tool for infinite delay? Governance scholar Simbarashe Namusi breaks down Zimbabwe’s systemic succession crisis and argues for real decision-making power today.

Old habit. For thirty years, she rose early to prepare before the neighbourhood stirred, before the children needed feeding, before the women gathered, before the day became communal property. The market used to open at six. She would be there before the best tomatoes were gone, before Maiguru Chipo claimed the prime spot near the entrance, before the real business of the morning began, not the buying and selling, but the talking. The catching up. The being known.

Not the toxic kind. Not the shame that silences victims or crushes confidence. The quiet kind. The kind that reminded us that our actions had consequences, that dignity mattered, that not everything belonged in the public square.

In an increasingly divided world, emergency response remains one of the purest expressions of humanity. In a crisis, political affiliations, social differences, and personal backgrounds become entirely irrelevant. What matters is helping a fellow human being. We must make a greater effort to treat our responders with patience, respect, and active gratitude. Behind every uniform, reflective vest, or medical scrub is a person carrying the weight of someone else’s worst day.