'We would not have this Constitution if it wasn't for people acting collectively... Unless we seize our power as a people, the Constitution will remain just a document,' constitutional lawyer tells audience at the opening event of the Human Rights Festival.

On Human Rights Day, advocate Thuli Madonsela and Miss South Africa Ndavi Nokeri took part in a discussion facilitated at Constitution Hill as part of the Human Rights Festival.

"The "We" is the most important part of the Constitution," constitutional lawyer Lwando Xaso told attendees in her opening remarks. She said the "We, the people part of South Africa's Constitution" was significant because it showed a recognition of the people's power and that "we would not have this Constitution if it wasn't for people acting collectively... Unless we seize our power as a people, the constitution will remain just a document."

"Constitutionalism is a dialogue, a conversation, the Constitution is not the stopping of struggle."

Xaso also reminded those in attendance that the event was taking place as the country commemorated the 69 lives lost in Sharpeville in 1960 and that in December 1996 former president Nelson Mandela chose Sharpeville as the site for the signing of the new Constitution.

Madonsela said that as long as there is injustice anywhere there can never be sustainable peace, and that she first started cultivating a sense of justice as a child and from a "selfish" standpoint when she saw the...