This brief focuses on the African brain drain and the return of skilled Africans to the continent. A new era started for Africa in 2001, far removed from what had typified the continent in its recent past, when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) adopted the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU), which improved the continent’s circumstances substantially. Many expats return to the continent once they regard their homelands as politically and economically stable.  In order to find a lasting solution to the African brain drain, the factors that force African professionals to leave for the West need to be addressed.

Imagine Africa – only better. Imagine the realisation of oceans of potential, culminating in an explosion of development. Imagine what would happen if more people, Africans and non-Africans, believed in Africa. Countless people have testified to the power of positive thinking and its effects on their lives. Based on the principle that positive energy attracts more positive energy, also known as the 'Law of Attraction', this paper calls on everyone (yes, this includes you) to wholeheartedly believe in Africa. One person can make a difference, but if millions of people make collective short- and long-term efforts to embrace hope and faith for Africa, the combined mass of positive energy will help to produce exponential growth and progress for the African continent.

This brief presents some of Uganda’s child protection laws and then outlines the good work that the Platform for Labour Action (PLA) does for child domestic workers in the country. The law that deals with employment in Uganda regards work in public places, but child domestic work occurs in an environment that is considered private. This complication notwithstanding, organisations have fought for the rights of child domestic workers.  Legal frameworks that protect children’s rights are critical to understanding the matter at hand.  Uganda has enacted several laws to protect children’s rights and these are most often used to fight for the rights of children who are abused as domestic workers.

Today is perhaps the most pertinent day of the year to be writing about the opportunities, beauties and unities in Africa. Today I am not just a white male South African; I am a proud and optimistic African. Later today, I will paint a black star on my face and join thousands of South Africans as we cheer the Ghanaian ‘Black Stars’ to victory in their quarter final playoff against Uruguay in Johannesburg for the FIFA 2010 World Cup. Millions of Africans will cheer on the only African representatives left in the tournament. Today, all of Africa can briefly forget about poverty, UN loans, HIV & AIDS, the scramble for Africa, tyranny, oppression and other evils that dwell on the continent. Today the simple game of football will unite an entire continent’s ambitions behind one team.

1994 ushered in an era of transformation and change in South Africa. The Freedom Charter of 1955 expressed the now ruling African National Congress’ (ANC) hope that “The land should belong to those who work it.”(2) Land reform and redistribution have been at the top of the democratic Government’s agenda, but has been implemented with more bark than bite. The Department of Land Affairs’ (DLA) new land redistribution policy introduced land acquisition grants to assist farms and their workers in transforming the agricultural sector in South Africa. These grants, together with farm worker equity-sharing schemes (FWES), constitute a combined effort by both the Government and the private sector to improve the lives of farm workers in South Africa.

Farm workers are among the most marginalised and impoverished groups in South Africa. In the Western Cape, every farm worker’s income further supports another five people’s livelihoods.(3) The average income of a farm worker is less than US$ 75-80 a month and has, on average, very low educational levels and nutritional status. Agriculture in South Africa is the largest sector with regards to providing employment with 640,000 permanent jobs and 300,000 seasonal, casual and contract jobs offered by commercial agriculture. (4)