Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the role of networks in advancing transformative justice. Since the end of apartheid and the beginning of democracy in 1994, a number of transitional justice mechanisms have been employed in South Africa. The book also explores the ways in which the realisation of socioeconomic rights in South Africa is affected by structural violence. It focuses on a case study of a South African landless people's and housing rights network. The case study focuses on a network made up of diverse actors, including Non-Governmental Organisations, social movements and trade unions. The book explains which of the various organisations and groups working on land reform and anti-eviction in the urban Western Cape which are linked to each other and shows some of the wider national and international links these groups have.