Oppression and violence

The novel Mother to Mother by Sindiwe Magona also explores the effects of oppression and violence, as well as the resistance that is born out of that.

The novel discusses oppression by looking at the violence that people of color faced in South Africa during the apartheid era. Mandisa talks about how the police in Guguletu are not only ineffective at stopping violence, but they are often perpetrators of violence themselves: 

The police are not our friends. They are to this day worse than ineffectual. Here in Guguletu we do not like the police. They are an endless source of irritation at best. At worst, a presence we dread, an affliction. We know that many innocent people have died in their hands. Their blood-stained hands. Died. Killed by the police. With imp...