Mpumalanga’s Gert Sibande district made history this week after hosting its first ever pride parade for LGBT communities in South Africa.

According to AllAfrica, the march, which drew more than 100 participants from four local municipalities, aimed to promote understanding and combat violence against LGBT people.

Thandi Maluka, from the Sexual HIV Prevention Programme, said: “We are all protected by the South African Constitution and no one is above the law.

“The Bill of Rights recognises and protects all South African citizens, irrespective of race, gender or sexual orientation, against any form of abuse or discrimination.”

Cindy Molefe, an LGBT activist from Limpopo who attended the march, spoke out against growing concerns over the corrective rape and murder of lesbians.

She said: “No human being deserves to be killed or raped just because some people doesn’t approve and accept their sexual preferences.

“Our voices and weeping must be heard.”

In June, South Africa’s most senior judge who believes “a man should marry a woman” vowed to protect the rights of all gay citizens.

South Africa became the first and so far only country in Africa to legalise same-sex marriage in 2006.