We started off with a simple idea: to take a long, hard look at the End (with an emphatic capital ‘E’) and report back to our readers on what we saw.

We wanted to explore how governments respond and develop after you drop your vote into the ballot box, so we chose ‘Beyond the Box’ as the theme of this edition of The Cape Town Globalist. If the act of marking an ‘X’ next to a party’s name is a symbol of a citizen’s empowerment and engagement with society, then the box represents the electorate’s entitlement to be heard and their demands attended to…

With the April 22 election looming, the biggest question on many South Africans’ minds must be, “To lump for the tried and tested opposition, or to follow the spark of something new?” I’ve made up my mind, but I can’t shake the feeling that I should be trying something different, tasting something fresh, giving someone else a chance. I’m referring to Cope, of course, and while my reasoning will prevail – that any newly-formed party needs at least a five-year term to consolidate itself and prove its staying power – I’m sure that I’ll leave the voting booth and still wonder whether I should have been more adventurous. And that’s exciting…

“Touch a long-term prisoner anywhere,” wrote Herman Charles Bosman, “And a story would flow from him like a wound.” In a sense, it’s the same with refugees. From Zimbabwe, from DRC, from Somalia, from Sudan, each refugee has a story to tell. It’s rarely a happy one and the ending [...]