Constitution Hill is “almost a holy site”, former African National Congress deputy secretary general Cheryl Carolus said at the start of the 2017 We, the People Walk on 26 March.

The walk, which begins and ends at Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, celebrates South Africa’s Constitution, and commemorates those who fought for constitutional democracy in the country. The 2017 event was the fourth annual walk.

The hill is the site of South Africa’s Constitutional Court, and where some of colonial and apartheid South Africa’s most notorious jails are to be found. Along with other famous people and hundreds of ordinary South Africans, the late former president Nelson Mandela and Indian rights campaigner Mahatma Gandhi were both incarcerated in jails on the hill, Carolus said.

“There’s lots of painful history here, but we come here every year to be proud,” she said. That pride emanates both from the courage of those who opposed colonial- and apartheid-era laws, and from the work of the Constitutional Court in upholding the “sanctity” of the Constitution, Carolus said.

“It’s our responsibility, men and women, young and old, to hold everyone accountable to our Constitution,” she said.

Carolus spoke ahead of the walk, which took off in overcast weather but in a jovial mood. Women, men and children wearing “We, the People Walk” T-shirts drummed, danced and sang before setting off.

Actors Mogau Motlhatswi and Sello Maake Ka-Ncube also urged the crowd to appreciate and stand up for their constitutional rights. Ahead of the event, Motlhatswi said she would be walking for women’s rights.

“As a young woman in South Africa, I feel that our voices need to be heard in whichever space we’re in, be it in the boardroom, in the household or even in front of the camera. The Constitution protects our right to equality.”

Ka-Ncube followed with: “The recent resurgence of colonial and racist attitudes can only be a deep-seated societal disease among our white compatriots. I walked to highlight that we as a nation have adopted this Constitution as the supreme law of the republic so as to heal the division of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.”