Feature: Law

Instruments of change

SECTION27 was established in May 2010 as a public interest law centre seeking to develop and use the law to protect and advance human rights. Its origins stem from the successful and pioneering work of the AIDS Law Project, located at the University’s Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS). WITSReview reached out to alumni currently affiliated with the organisation. BY JACQUELINE STEENEVELDT

(BA 1992, LLB 1996)

FARANAAZ VERIAVA

HEAD OF EDUCATION RIGHTS PROGRAMME

In addition to her Wits qualifications, Faranaaz completed her master and doctor of laws at the University of Pretoria and is also a part-time lecturer in its law faculty. She leads a team of committed attorneys and researchers, developing legal strategy in education cases and campaigns of SECTION27. “I also believe it’s very important to create a scholarship in our area of speciality so as much as possible I write for both scholarly and popular publications. I also mentor the members of my team to do the same,” she says.

Could you give a summary of your career path and how you came to be involved with SECTION27?

My career path has always been directed towards being a public interest lawyer. Early in my career I worked as a legal officer at the South African Human Rights Commission. I then joined the Johannesburg Bar to complete my legal training as an advocate. After a short stint practising at the Bar, I joined CALS at Wits where I was able to combine and develop my skills both as a public interest lawyer and as an academic. At CALS, I, together with others, founded the Education Rights Project where I first began building cases, writing about and advocating for the right to basic education for the poorest learners.

CALS was then also home to the AIDS Law Project (ALP) which would later move to Braamfontein and become SECTION27. The legal mobilisation campaign led by the ALP together with the Treatment Action Campaign demanding antiretrovirals to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV was very inspiring to me as to the form of public interest law I wanted to be engaged in. After CALS I took a few years off from my professional career to be with my children, who were very small.

I then joined SECTION27 in 2014 and have never looked back. I have been involved in some of the most impactful public interest law cases over the last eight years. I joined the organisation to work on the Limpopo textbook litigation and then the Michael Komape case when the five-year-old drowned in a pit toilet at his school. More recently, I have built and led cases such as the school nutrition case during COVID-19 as well as the recent Constitutional Court case where SECTION27 represented BLINDSA in seeking copyright exemptions for persons with visual disabilities.

Why did you choose law?

From my earliest memories, I was surrounded by the activism of my family against apartheid. Already as a pre-schooler, I had attended the political trial of my uncle, a member of the Black Consciousness Movement. Later, my father [Dr Yosuf Veriava (MBBCh 1968)] was one of the Wits doctors who brought a legal challenge against the South African Medical and Dental Council for their failure to sanction the unethical conduct of the prison doctors who were responsible for but who failed to care for Steve Biko when he was tortured to death in detention. The late Priscilla Jana, who was a human rights lawyer representing many of the political activists fighting against apartheid, was also a very close friend and comrade of my father. So, I was always surrounded by examples of how the law, an instrument of oppression, could also be creatively bent to serve as an instrument of change. These experiences were obviously formative in my own career path.

If there was an instant fix in one area in which you work, what would that be? An inferior education for the majority of South Africans was one of the key pillars of apartheid. We need to fix this by prioritising a quality basic education for all, something we have failed to do thus far. A decent education is an essential step to equality.

What values keep you going?

I subscribe to the values of our Constitution, especially substantive equality, dignity and socioeconomic equality for all. I would also describe myself as an intersectional feminist.

What do you hope for South Africa?

That we achieve socioeconomic equality and that every person can live a dignified life. Where we are now is heart-breaking.

Could you share a memory or an influential lecturer during your time at Wits?

There are way too many Wits memories and more than one influential lecturer. What I can say is that I found growing up as a young girl in a closed, Indian community very constraining. Being a Witsie gave me the freedom to become the person I wanted to be and my time at CALS made me the lawyer I wanted to be.

(LLB 2018)

MOTHEO BRODIE

LEGAL RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY OFFICER, EDUCATION RIGHTS PROGRAMME

Motheo is “an activist at heart”, who served as chairperson of the Wits Law Students Council and deputy SRC president during the height of the Fees Must Fall protests in 2015. He says he was drawn to study law as “it’s one of the most useful tools in the struggle for social justice” and has a desire to contribute to “the realisation of a just society and the South African Constitution’s transformative project”. In addition to his LLB degree, he completed the Human Rights Advocacy and Litigation course through the Nelson Mandela Institute at Wits. His role at SECTION27 entails legal research, drafting and presenting submissions on proposed policy and legislation as well as developing and coordinating advocacy and campaign strategies.

If there was an instant fix in one area in which you work, what would that be?

The eradication of unlawful pit toilets in Limpopo schools is a big part of our work. I believe that public representatives and government officials with the political will and an understanding of their obligations would go a long way in resolving the ongoing school sanitation crisis.

What values keep you going?

What do you hope for South Africa? I believe that we all have a duty to be active citizens in building a South Africa characterised by equality and social justice, irrespective of which space we occupy.

Could you share a memory or an influential lecturer during your time at Wits?

One of my favourite lecturers during my time at Wits was Professor James Grant. I did criminal law in 2014, which also happened to be the year of the Oscar Pistorius trial. Even though I did not pursue criminal law, I remember being very intrigued by the field and Professor Grant's lectures were always very lively with rigorous debates during the lectures.

(LLB 2007, PDIPLAW 2015, LLM 2019)

ZEENAT SUJEE

ATTORNEY, EDUCATION RIGHTS PROGRAMME

Zeenat joined SECTION27 in 2021, focusing on sexual violence in schools, migrant pupils, matters relating to infrastructure, learning materials, pupil dropouts and pregnancy. As an attorney, she has extensive experience in advocacy and litigation from working at the LRC and CALS. “I litigated in various courts throughout the country including the highest appellate courts (the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court,” she says. She has also worked as a legal researcher to three Constitutional Court judges. She was the inaugural Stephen Ellmann Judicial Fellow at New York Law School in 2021 and the Cameron Schrier Fellow at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at Wits in 2020/21.

If there was an instant fix in one area in which you work, what would that be?

To end the scourge of gender-based violence.

What values keep you going?

A commitment to justice. My hope is that we reach a state of political stability where leaders start governing with integrity, compassion and humility. We require leaders who act in the interests of its people. I hope that we get to see a non-racial, non-sexist and economically equal society.

Could you share a memory or an influential lecturer during your time at Wits?

The lecturer who spurred my interest in human rights law was Abeda Bhamjee (BA 1996, LLB 1998, LLM 2000), a lawyer and lecturer at the Wits Law Clinic. I worked under her supervision and she provided me with the guidance and exposure to High Court applications as well as Refugee Appeal Board hearings. Her passion and determination to ensure justice for all clients that filled the clinic on Monday afternoons, was inspirational. She taught with patience and provided the practical and theoretical guidance that law students require.

(BA 2019, LLB 2021, PGDIPLAW 2022)

MILA HARDING

FORMER LEGAL RESEARCHER

Mila says she “developed a keen interest in law, economics and politics from quite an early age” and was fascinated by the role law arguably plays in upholding and potentially dismantling injustice. “Choosing to study law at Wits was a natural choice.” In the penultimate year of her LLB, she attended a talk about the Komape delictual litigation at Wits and she was encouraged to apply for an internship at SECTION27. Mila was awarded the 2022 Pius Langa Memorial Fellowship by the Constitutional Court Trust to study for an LLM at University College London and resigned from SECTION27 in August.

What did your role at SECTION27 entail?

My role at SECTION27 entailed researching different areas of national and comparative law for the purpose of challenging rights violations in the basic education system in South Africa. I also did more practical work such as assisting with the writing of draft affidavits and heads of argument for many of our cases. Further, I worked on a lot of advocacy focused on promoting the right to basic education, which included writing opinion pieces for news outlets and participating in media interviews. It was always incredibly fulfilling and interesting work.

What would be your instant fix?

The areas that I worked on at SECTION27 were, for the most part, systemic issues – there are no truly quick fixes. However, a common theme that emerged from working at SECTION27 is that in several areas there seems to be a lack of true political will to address these systemic issues as a matter of urgency. I suppose, therefore, if I was able to instantly fix one thing then it would be to instil a sense of urgency in the minds of those who have the power to ensure the rights of people in South Africa are realised.

What values keep you going?

What do you hope for South Africa? I would define my strongest values as community, equality and justice. My hope for South Africa is that it will someday be able to live up substantively to its constitutional vision. At the current political and economic moment this may seem to be a monumental task, but I believe it is still possible to achieve.

Could you share a memory or an influential lecturer during your time at Wits?

My most influential lecturer during my time at Wits was Dr Emile Zitzke, who taught me a course on delict and later was my supervisor for my final year research essay. Dr Zitzke inspired me to think of the law in an analytically richer and more optimistic way. He also helped me develop academic and professional confidence by encouraging me to publish my research essay and apply to international master’s programmes.