As I queue outside South Africa House awaiting my turn to vote, my gaze falls upon Nelson’s Column and the proud Trafalgar lions, and I am forced to take cognisance of the moment’s significance. The magnificence of the great British Empire is made tangible by her symbols of might and power that rest just beyond my vision – Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament. Amidst this grandeur I wait to perform the seemingly menial task of placing a mark on a paper. Yet a collection of these marks will determine the future of a nation. A nation previously choked by the colonial rule of the very empire under whose authority I presently exist. (more…)