Kate Paterson - She's Anything But Textbook

The 17th of May in 2012 was a very important day in the eyes of South African democracy; a day that would mark the start of the fight against the injustice of being denied a right so basic as the tools needed to successfully matriculate high school. It is the day that the judge in the ‘Section27 vs Minister of Basic Education’ court case delivered his ruling. It went as follows: “The failure of the Limpopo Department of Basic Education to provide textbooks to schools in Limpopo is a violation of the rights to a basic education and equal dignity.” Although the State subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein after a series of various other litigations against them, the court dismissed the case. This reiterated the state’s obligation to provide each Limpopo school pupil with one textbook per subject, and declared it a realisable right to education. At the forefront of the case that became known as “The Textbook Case”, stood Section27, a public interest law centre labelling themselves as social justice catalysts, and Kate Paterson, one of the lawyers who defended the case at the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Kate’s home in Randburg is beautifully decorated, simple and elegant, much like her, and I immediately fall in love with it a little bit. Her beagle, Billie, plays an integral part in the interviewing process, delivering her input with a series of barks and whines. She too has something to say and is not willing to let her voice be silenced. Kate laughs and apologises for her dog’s behaviour, but there is one simple truth: Billie is too cute to be capable of wrongdoing. In some ways, Billie has been raised in a way that is quite reminiscent of her owner: fiercely loyal to what she believes in, and willing to raise her voice and do something about it.

We sit down at opposite sides of the table, and Kate begins to tell me the story that led her to where she is now. She remembers how drawn she was to the biographies and autobiographies of struggle heroes when she was in high school, and how that influenced her to eventually study law. “A pivotal moment for me was when I read Winnie Mandela’s biography, and learnt about the complexities of the struggle and how women played a part in that history. From that moment, I knew that I was going to do something in the field of human rights.” After completing her first year in a dual course of law and journalism, she realised she wanted to pursue a career in human rights law.

But no story ever comes without adversity, and Kate’s journey has by no means been a moonlit path. “I started studying my LLB degree at WITS in February, and in March, I spotted a lump in my neck. When I went to my doctor, she told me that it looked like cancer. I went for a fine needle aspiration, and the test results came back negative,” she says, “but when the doctors removed one of the nodules, it was very clearly cancer.” What Kate later found out had happened, was that she had recently received a cervical cancer vaccination, which had clouded the results of the test intended to diagnose her cancer. She was 22 at the time.

Kate started treatment a week later, citing herself as an optimist who then changed into a stoic about halfway through the process. Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is known to be a highly treatable cancer, and she was only expected to have eight chemotherapy sessions. But after the first bout of treatment, Kate’s tumours had not gone away. When she had finished her second round, her oncologist determined that she needed a stem cell treatment. This was a gruelling process involving six days of intense chemotherapy to deplete your immune system in order to lower the risk of rejection before the stem cells can be transplanted. One in five people die from this treatment alone, and Kate had to spend three weeks in hospital isolation, recovering from the ordeal.

When she was finally in remission after a year and a half, she found herself in the grip of a depression caused by the chemotherapy. “People would ask me: ‘Why aren’t you happy? You’re fine now,’ but what they don’t realise is that I had been thinking about death every day. It’s not a natural time in your life to be thinking that much about dying.” But Kate was a fighter, and she affirms that her experience with cancer completely changed the way in which she looked at life. “It helped me to understand the nature of life and people’s tragedies, and helped a lot with my work at Section27. If you’ve spent your whole life in a privileged state, you feel like nothing can touch you, I suppose. It completely changed the way that I look at life.”

Kate was forced to leave her LLB degree as a result of her chemotherapy dates conflicting with her exams, and after she was cleared, she had a lot of time on her hands before she resumed her studies the next year. In a serendipitous feat, she ran into a friend of hers who was withdrawing from the law centre called Section27, leaving the position empty. Kate interviewed for the job, and successively became an assistant. “When I went there, I told them that it would only be for 6 months, as I was starting my LLB again the next year. And I just absolutely loved it.” During that time, she worked for the chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign, as well as the Executive Director of Section27, Mark Heywood. “I loved being a PA, because you just get to know how someone clever works. It’s really nice being in somebody’s head like that.” When the time came to return to her degree, instead of leaving completely, Kate continued working for them on a reduced scale, helping with smaller projects. “I think I knew that I was going to go back to Section27 when I left.” Because the centre didn’t offer articles, Kate made her debut in corporate law when she completed her articles at Norton Rose Fulbright.

In 2015, Kate found out that there was a position available at Section27 once again, and she wrote to them about applying for it. “I love the organisation and I’m very passionate about it.” Needless to say, she was back in full swing shortly afterwards.

Something that struck me right from the outset is her attitude about life. She is unapologetically herself, and is relentless about doing work that is in line with her moral compass. Although she mentions throughout the interview that she has been lucky enough to have been privileged throughout her life, she is tremendously conscience of the social inequalities in our country. She shows me her arm, a beautiful little textbook patterned over her wrist in black ink. “It’s just a little reminder of why I do what I do,” she smiles. When I ask her if she ever gets disheartened in the face of what seems like an infinite battle, she eloquently replies: “Of course I did, but doing nothing would only make it worse. It’s absolutely wonderful when you can see results, even if it’s just for a couple of people. The textbooks case is a good example, because our work directly influenced how many children then received textbooks.”

The statement that I will best remember from the interview came only a few minutes’ before its end. Whilst talking about being a female in a male-dominated field, Kate had this to say: “The world in general, but law in particular, could really benefit from an injection of femininity.” I am a firm believer that every young person, and especially young women, should find a positive role model to look to within our society where good exemplars are sometimes scarce. These are the people that remind you how far you’ve come, and simultaneously how far you still have to grow. They are the ones who have made a difference, whilst you are still in the process of doing so. When I picture a role model, I imagine them to be selfless, hardworking and relentless in the quest for change. In other words… I see Kate.

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