Flag of South Africa

See also: List of South African flags

Republic of South Africa

Use	Civil and state flag, civil and state ensign
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	27 April 1994
Design	A horizontal bicolour of red (chili red) and blue with a black isosceles triangle based on the hoist side; over the partition lines is a green pall (a Y-shaped band) edged in both white against the red and blue bands and gold against the black triangle at the hoist side.
Designed by	Frederick Brownell

The flag of South Africa was adopted on 27 April 1994, at the beginning of South Africa's 1994 general election, to replace the flag that had been used since 1928. The new national flag, designed by State Herald Frederick Brownell, was chosen to represent the new democracy.

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 yellow 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 colours – black, green and yellow – are found in the banner of the African National Congress. The other three – red, white and blue – are displayed on the old Transvaal vierkleur (which also includes green), the Dutch tricolour and the British Union flag.

Colour

Colour	Textile colour	Pantone equivalent	RGB	RGB sample
Green	CKS 42 c Spectrum green	3415 c	#007C59
Black	CKS 401 c Blue black		#000000
White	CKS 701 c National flag white		#FFFFFF
Gold	CKS 724 c Gold yellow	1235 c	#FCB514
Red	CKS 750 c Chilli red	179 c	#E23D28
Blue	CKS 762 c National flag blue	Reflex blue c	#0C1C8C

Construction sheet

Flag construction sheet

History

Red Ensign

After the Anglo-Boer War from 1899 to 1902 until the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the British Union Flag was the national flag in the four British colonies that became South Africa.

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 with the shield of the South African coat of arms. These ensigns were not intended to be used as the Union's national flag, although they were used by some people as such.

• 

  The Red Ensign was South Africa's de facto national flag 1910–1928.

• 

  The Blue Ensign was South Africa's de facto national flag 1910–1928.

• 

  The design of the Red Ensign was modified slightly in 1912.

1928–94 flag

South Africa (1928–1994)

Proportion	2:3
Adopted	1928

The three flags in the centre representing the former British colonies of Cape Colony and Natal with the Union Jack on the left, followed by the flags of the former Boer republics of Orange Free State and the South African Republic on the right. The Union Jack is shown with the hoist on the right.

It was only after the first post-Union Afrikaner government took office in 1925 that a bill was introduced in Parliament to introduce a national flag for the Union. This provoked violent controversy that lasted for three years, as the British thought that the Afrikaners wanted to remove the imperial symbols. The Natal Province even threatened to secede from the Union.

Finally, a compromise was reached that resulted in the adoption of a separate flag for the Union in late 1927 and the design was first hoisted on 31 May 1928. The design was based on the so-called Van Riebeeck flag or Prinsenvlag ("Prince's Flag" in Afrikaans) that was originally the Dutch flag; it consisted of orange, white, and blue horizontal stripes. A version of this flag had been used as the flag of the Dutch East India Company at the Cape (with the VOC logo in the centre) from 1652 until 1795. The South African addition to the design was three smaller flags centred in the white stripe. The smaller flags were the Union Flag (mirrored) towards the hoist, the flag of the Orange Free State hanging vertically in the middle and the Transvaal Vierkleur towards the fly.

The choice of the Prinsenvlag as the basis upon which to design the South African flag had more to do with compromise than Afrikaner political desires, as the Prinsenvlag was believed to be the first flag hoisted on South African soil and was politically neutral, as it was no longer the national flag of any nation. A further element of this compromise was that the Union Flag would continue to fly alongside the new South African national flag over official buildings. This state of duality continued until 1957 when the Union Flag lost its official status per an Act of Parliament. The Red Ensign remained the merchant flag until 1 January 1960.

Following a referendum the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, but the design of the flag remained unchanged. However there was intense pressure to change the flag, particularly from Afrikaners who resented the fact that the Union Flag was a part of the flag. In 1968, the then Prime Minister, John Vorster, proposed the adoption of a new flag from 1971, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the declaration of a republic.

1994 flag

South African Ambassador Harry Schwarz presenting the new flag to the president of the United States, Bill Clinton, in May 1994.

The present South African national flag was first flown on 27 April 1994. However, the flag was first commissioned as an interim flag only, and was decided upon at the very last minute, barely making it onto the nation's flagpoles in time for the election.

The choice of a new flag was part of the negotiation process set in motion 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 drawn up and presented to the public and the Negotiating Council, but none elicited enthusiastic support. A number of design studios were contacted to submit further proposals, but they were again without success. Parliament went into recess at the end of 1993 without a suitable candidate for the new national flag.

None of the flag designs submitted by the public were supported by the committee charged to select the final design.

In February 1994, Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer, 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 State Herald Fred Brownell, who had also designed the Flag of Namibia. This interim flag was designed by Frederick Brownell for the 27 April elections, the nation's first fully inclusive elections, and for Nelson Mandela's 10 May inauguration.

The flag flying at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The proclamation of the new national flag by South African President F. W. de Klerk was only published on 20 April 1994, a mere seven days before the flag was to be inaugurated, sparking a frantic last-minute flurry for flag manufacturers. As stated in South Africa's post-apartheid interim constitution, the flag was to be introduced on an interim probationary period of five years, after which there would be discussion about whether or not to change the national flag in the final draft of the constitution. However, the flag was eventually very well received and was included in the final draft without much debate. Although the flag originally had mixed reception, the interim version was made the final, national flag in the South African Constitution.

Proper display of the flag

The South African government published rules for proper display of the flag at designated flag stations, in Government Notice 510 of 8 June 2001 (Gazette number 22356). These rules apply only to official flag stations and not to the general public.

The Southern African Vexillological Association (SAVA), a non-official association for the study of flags, published their own guide for proper display of the flag in 2002. This guide has no official authority but was drawn up with global vexillological principles in mind.

Heraldic description

An addendum to the Transitional Executive Council agenda (April 1994) described the flag in 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:

1. The national flag is rectangular; it is one and a half times as long as it is wide.
2. It is black, gold, green, white, chilli red and blue.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. The triangle next to the flag post is black.
6. 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.

Similar flags

• The flag of Tuva, a republic in the Russian Federation, is a light blue field with a white-fimbriated pall of the same color bordering a yellow triangle on the hoist.
• The flag of Vanuatu, with green representing the richness of the islands, the red symbolising the blood of wild boars and men, and the black the ni-Vanuatu people.

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  Flag of Tuva

• 

  Flag of Vanuatu

See also

• List of South African flags
• Coat of arms of South Africa
• National anthem of South Africa
• National symbols of South Africa

Further reading

• Saker, Henry. The South African Flag Controversy. Oxford University Press, Cape Town. 1980. ISBN 0-19-570172-0.
• Pama, C. Die Vlae van Suid-Afrika. Tafelberg Publishers, Cape Town, 1984.
• SAVA Journal SJ: 4/95: The History of Flags of South Africa before 1900
• Fred Brownell: The man who made South Africa's flag, BBC News Magazine, 26 April 2014

External links

• South African government's page on the flag
• Southern African Vexillological Association (SAVA)
• South Africa at Flags of the World
• South Africa (1928-1994) at Flags of the World