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The novel, Tsotsi, is set in the 1950s in a township near Johannesburg. Life is very hard for people living there. It is difficult to find work because of the apartheid laws, like the Group Areas Act, that severely restrict the jobs black people are allowed to do and where they are allowed to live. They are also restricted by the Pass Laws that require all African (and all other races which are not white) males over the age of sixteen to carry a “reference book”, containing their personal details and employment history. If they are caught without it, they can be arrested and imprisoned. Africans are torn between the need to find work to make a living and the risk of fines or even jail for being in cities without permission. Another hardship is that they often have to travel long distances, often on overcrowded trains and buses, to get to work. Those who attempt to walk to work, boycotting buses because the fares are so high relative to what they earn, face arrest or harassment.

Gangsterism is rife in the townships. Shebeens provide a form of escape from the grim reality of everyday life. Police raids to find people without passes are common events.

(The Pass Laws were repealed in 1986, long after this story ends. In thirty-four years they had led to more than seventeen million arrests.)