The Author of “Mother to Mother”, Sindiwe Magona, was born and raised with seven siblings in Gugulethu, a township near Cape Town in South Africa. She worked as a domestic aid before graduating at a correspondence school. After working as a primary school teacher for a while, she finished with a Master`s Degree in Social Work at Columbia University in New York. She worked for the UN for 25 years and retired to go back to South Africa in 2003.
During her time at the UN Department of Public Information, she published two of her most famous books, her autobiography “To My Children`s Children”(1990) and her novel “Mother To Mother” (1998). Most of her books revolve around poverty, life as a housemaid and as a woman in the Apartheid system in South Africa. She received many awards for her literature and for promoting literature in her mother tongue Xhosa. Her most prestigious award was given to her in 2011: the Order of Ikhamanga, the highest presidential award in South Africa.
“Mother to Mother“, tells the story of a white student, Amy Biehl, who comes to South Africa to learn about Xhosa language and culture and to support black townships in their struggle during the Apartheid system. She is killed in a mob incident by black youths in the township of Gugulethu. Even though Amy is the one who was killed, Magona does not focus on the reaction of her family and friends or the South African society, but on the early childhood and circumstances of the life of the murderer. This is to highlight the reasons and struggles that lead the young black man to commit such a hideous crime.
Chapter 1:Chapter 1 is a letter, written by narrator Mandisa, mother of Mxolisi, the murderer. She addresses Amy Biehl`s mother and tries to explain the situation she, as Mxolisi’s mother, is in. She talks about her grief and asks for understanding and forgiveness, but also wonders why Amy Biehl, as a white woman, did not stay out of the black township. In the first Chapter, Mandisa’s “lament”, is separated by the rest of a novel which is made up of several diary-like passages.
Chapter 2In Chapter 2, Mandisa starts explaining the events of the day of Amy`s death, the 25th of August, 1993. She portrays how Amy Biehl gets ready to say goodbye to her friends since she is about to leave and go back to the USA. Mandisa then takes the reader to her own homeplace, Gugulethu, where she is about to go to work. Compared to the happiness and excitement of Amy about seeing her friends from university, Mandisa worries about neglecting her kids as she has to work long hours. With this comparison, the heavy contrast between Mandisa’s and Amy’s life and social status becomes quite apparent. Later, Mxolisi and his friends are kept from meeting at an Anglican Church Hall, so they start wandering through the township.
Chapter 3 + 4:Because of a rumour of an incident in Gugulethu, Mandisa’s employer, Mrs. Nelson, sends her home early from work that day. While going back home, she tells the story of how her family was moved to Gugulethu by the white government (as an Apartheid measure) when she was a child. She is worried about hearing the people on the bus say that a white woman has been killed in her township. As she comes home, her son Mxolisi is missing.
Chapter 5:Mandisa depicts her childhood in 1968 when her family had to move from Bouvlei to Gugulethu, forced by the government. Mandisa’s family’s business of selling ginger beer was immediately cut short when the army drove her family and her neighbours out of town and destroyed their houses. Since Mxolisi still hasn’t returned home, Mandisa worries about him and the situation in town. It becomes clear that Dwadwa, Mandisa’s husband, does not like Mxolisi and his disobedient behaviour.
Chapter 6:The next day early in the morning, policemen come to Mandisa’s house to look for Mxsolisi. They search, damage the house and beat up Lunga when they can`t find Mxolisi. This incident reminds Mandisa of the killing of Steve Biko, a leader of the Black Consciousness Movement. She feels that the police are not an indicator of safety, but a threat to people in black townships.
Chapter 7+8:In Chapters 7 and 8 Mandisa again depicts her young teenage years in two flashbacks from 1971 to 1973. She talks about her life as a 14-year old when her mother was very scared of Mandisa becoming unwantedly pregnant. She used to warn her daughter of having a boyfriend and regularly check if Mandisa is still a virgin. Mandisa still has a secret boyfriend, whom she has to leave when her mother forces her to live with her grandmother Makhulu for a while to prevent her from becoming pregnant.
Although Makhulu is very kind to her and Mandisa is excited for the upcoming visit of her aunt, Funiwe, she misses her boyfriend China terribly. When Funiwe visits, she discovers that Mandisa is pregnant. Mandisa is just as shocked as her mother, who keeps her locked at home after she moves back to Gugulethu. Mandisa is forbidden to be in touch with China but she writes a letter to him anyway and agrees to meet him when she is alone. When China visits her and sees that she is pregnant, he is alarmed. Their families negotiate and decide that it`s best if Mandisa and China get married.
In January 1973, after Mandisa moved in with China and his family, Mxolisi is born. Mandisa feels hatred towards him for putting her in such an unwanted situation but still loves him as he is her son. Even after Mxolisi’s birth, Mandisa has to work hard and can`t go to school like she wished to do. She is treated like a housemaid and does not have much time to spend with her son.
One day, China suddenly disappears. This is the day Mandisa decides to move out too. She takes up work as a domestic aid to feed her family. Mxolisi is on his own a lot because Mandisa has to work long hours every day. One day at the age of four, when he often plays with older boys, he betrays them when he tells the police where they are hiding after an incident. When the police find them, they shoot the boys dead. After this incident, Mxolisi stops talking for two years.
A little later, Mandisa meets Lungile, who becomes the father of her second son Lunga. When Lungile has to leave the country to be a freedom fighter, Mxolisi wants to drop out of high school to start working. Mandisa convinces him to stay in school and Mxolisi starts getting involved in politics, becoming one of the leaders of the political groups in the neighbourhood.
Chapter 9:Back to the present day, Mandisa continues to refer to the police raid. Siziwe, her daughter, is in shock and seems to be psychologically hurt. She tells Mandisa that Mxolisi was home in the night and might have hidden something in the house. Mandisa wants to wait for Mxolisi to return and does not go to work.
Chapter 10:Mandisa reports how her grandfather used to tell her about the Cape of Good Hope, how it was named. Later, in the afternoon, Mandisa begins to look for Mxolisi. Reverend Mangana helps her to find him. He tells her that he found a hiding place for Mxolisi and his friends. Mandisa travels there by taxi and finds Mxolisi very troubled. He does not answer her if he was the one killing Amy or not. The reader can assume that Mxolisi and his friends threw stones at Amy’s car and stabbed her and although Mxolisi denies that, Mandisa knows that he will be arrested.
Chapter 11 + 12:In the last two chapters, Mandisa addresses her “sister-mother”, the mother of Amy, again. She tries to explain the political reasons behind Amy’s death and manifests her sorrow as well as her pity for her own family. She worries about children who grow up under the same circumstances as Mxolisi. Although she feels like an outcast, a victim, in this situation, Mandisa talks about the people in her neighbourhood who came to grieve with her and stand by her side in solidarity.
She describes the generation Mxolisi belongs to as a lost generation, manipulated by the white government and the police. He is a victim of racism. In the end, Mandisa finally reports what exactly happened on Wednesday, August 25. She describes how Amy entered Gugulethu in her car, where a group of students, Mxolisi with them, wander through the streets as they were not allowed in the church. As soon as they see Amy in the car, they start throwing stones and pulling Amy out of the car. They repeatedly sing the slogan “one settler, one bullet”, which shows that their behaviour is based on racist motives; that they attacked Amy merely because she is a representative of the Caucasian race.