Flag of South Africa

The national flag of South Africa was designed in March 1994 and adopted on 27 April 1994, during South Africa's 1994 general election, to replace the previous flag used from 1928–1994.

The flag has horizontal bands of red (on the top) and blue (on the bottom), of equal width, separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal "Y" shape, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side (and follow the flag's diagonals). The "Y" embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow gold bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes. The stripes at the fly end are in the 5:1:3:1:5 ratio. Three of the flag's colours were taken from the flag of the South African Republic, itself derived from the flag of the Netherlands, and the Union Jack, while the remaining three colours were taken from the flag of the African National Congress.

Nicknames for the flag include the Seskleur ( in Afrikaans) and the Rainbow Flag.

Colours

At the time of its adoption, the South African flag was the only national flag in the world to comprise six colours in its primary design, without a seal and brocade. The design and colours are a synopsis of the principal elements of the country's flag history. The colours themselves have no essential meaning. Frederick Gordon Brownell who created the flag has said that the green Y-shaped part of the flag was influenced by the chasubles worn by Anglican priests, and stated that he was influenced to include it as he grew up Anglican.

From time to time, explanations of the meanings or symbolism of the flag's colours are published in various media, including official government publications and speeches by government officials.

The flag consists of the four colours of the Vierkleur, expanded by the addition of black and gold, signifying South Africa's mineral wealth. Three of the colours – black, green, and gold – are found in the flag of the African National Congress. The other three – red, white, and blue – are used in the modern flag of the Netherlands and the flag of the United Kingdom; the colours white and blue were also found in the old flag of South Africa.

Former South African President F.W. de Klerk, who proclaimed the new flag on 20 April 1994, stated in his autobiography, The Last Trek: a New Beginning, that chilli red was chosen instead of plain red (which Anglo-Africans would have preferred) or orange (as some Afrikaners would have preferred).

History

1902–1910

The Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902 ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902. As such, the former Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek (Transvaal) became British colonies, joining with the existing Cape and Natal colonies. Each was also entitled to a colonial flag, in keeping with the British tradition.

1910–1928

On 31 May 1910, these four colonies united to form the Union of South Africa; the individual colonial flags were no longer used, and new South African flags were introduced. Once again, as a British dominion, the Union Jack continued to serve as the national flag, and the standard British ensign pattern served as the basis for distinctive South African flags.

As was the case throughout the British Empire, the Red and Blue Ensigns were the official flags for merchant and government vessels at sea, and the British Admiralty authorised them to be defaced in the fly with the shield from the South African coat of arms. These ensigns were not intended to be used as the Union's national flag. However, some people used them in this manner. Although these ensigns were primarily intended for maritime use, they were also flown on land.

File:South Africa Flag 1910-1912.svg| The South Africa Red Ensign was South Africa's de facto national flag between 1910 and 1928 and was flown at times from Government buildings.

File:Red Ensign of South Africa (1912-1951).svg| The design of the Red Ensign was slightly modified in 1912, when the shield was placed on a white disc to improve legibility. The Red Ensign continued to be used as the flag of the South African merchant marine until 1951.

File:Red Ensign of South Africa (1912–1928, with coat of arms).svg| A variant of South Africa Red Ensign with the full coat of arms of South Africa on a white disc. Commonly flown by civilians.

File:Blue Ensign of South Africa (1910–1928).svg| The Blue Ensign was flown over the Union's offices abroad between 1910 and 1928.

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These flags never enjoyed much popular support due to the animosities lingering after the Anglo-Boer War – the Afrikaner descendants of the Dutch settlers from the former Boer Republics saw it as a British flag, and the English-speakers saw it as not the Union Flag alone.

1928–1994

Due to the lack of popularity of these flags, there were intermittent discussions about the desirability of a more distinctive national flag for South Africa after 1910,

Since 2019, public display of this flag in South Africa is generally considered hate speech (for being a potential symbol of apartheid and white supremacy) and therefore prohibited, with exceptions for artistic, academic, and journalistic purposes, as well as for museums and places of historical interest.

Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg|

Flag of South Africa (1982–1994).svg|

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1994–present

thumb|South African Ambassador to the U.S. [[Harry Schwarz presenting the new flag to the U.S. president Bill Clinton and vice president Al Gore in May 1994.]]

The present South African national flag was first flown on 27 April 1994, the day of the 1994 election. However, the flag was initially intended as an interim flag, and its design was decided only a week earlier.

The choice of a new flag was part of the negotiation process initiated when Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990. When a nationwide public competition was held in 1993, the National Symbols Commission received more than 7,000 designs. Six designs were shortlisted and presented to the public and the Negotiating Council, but none elicited enthusiastic support. Many design studios were subsequently contacted to submit further proposals, but these were not favourably received. Parliament went into recess at the end of 1993 without a suitable candidate for the new national flag.

In February 1994, Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer, the chief negotiators of the African National Congress and the National Party government of the day, respectively, were given the task of resolving the flag issue. A final design was adopted on 15 March 1994, derived from a design developed by the State Herald Fred Brownell, who had also claimed to have previously designed the Namibian flag. This interim flag was hoisted officially for the first time on 27 April 1994, the day when the nation's first fully inclusive elections commenced which resulted in Nelson Mandela being inaugurated as South Africa's first democratically elected president on 10 May 1994.

Official description

An addendum to the Transitional Executive Council agenda (April 1994) described the flag in pseudo-heraldic terms as follows:

The National flag shall be rectangular in the proportion of two in the width to three to the length; per pall from the hoist, the upper band red (chilli) and lower band blue, with a black triangle at the hoist; over the partition lines a green pall one fifth the width of the flag, fimbriated white against the red and blue, and gold against the black triangle at the hoist, and the width of the pall and its fimbriations is one third the width of the flag.

Schedule One of the Constitution of South Africa (1996) replaced the heraldic definition and described the flag in plain English as follows:

The national flag is rectangular; it is one and a half times as long as it is wide.
It is black, gold, green, white, chilli red and blue.
It has a green Y-shaped band that is one-fifth as wide as the flag. The centre lines of the band start in the top and bottom corners next to the flag post, converge in the centre of the flag, and continue horizontally to the middle of the free edge.
The green band is edged, above and below in white, and towards the flag post end, in gold. Each edging is one-fifteenth as wide as the flag.
The triangle next to the flag post is black.
The upper horizontal band is chilli red and the lower horizontal band is blue. These bands are each one-third as wide as the flag.

Note

References

External links

Fred Brownell and the creation of the South African flag
Southern African Vexillological Association (SAVA)