Mother to Mother is, first and foremost, a novel about colonialism, apartheid, and the systemic oppression of black South Africans; Magona says so explicitly in her preface. Interestingly, however, the event that inspired Magona was the murder of a white American woman by black South Africans. What's more, the novel takes place almost entirely within the all-black community of Guguletu. As a result, we see few interracial interactions and (consequently) few instances of explicit racism. In fact, outside of the police raid on Mandisa's house, the apartheid government itself is virtually invisible; even the notification about forced removals is delivered at a distance, via airplane.

Magona's decision to focus so tightly on the black residents of Guguletu has several important consequences. For one, it is a commentary on one of the forms that systemic racism takes, as well as an attempt to set it right. Throughout Mother to Mother, Magona portrays white South Africa as dismissive and ignorant of the black population; it is not simply that the government thinks of its black citizens as inferior, but that it would rather not think about them at all. Part of the rationale for moving black South Africans to segregated communities is to keep them out of sight, and once the relocation is complete, the government largely ignores what goes on in the townships.