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Botswana

Republic of Botswana

• Explanation of the flag
• Legislation on Botswana emblems
• Construction sheet
• Botswana flag as a casket cover
• Botswana flag on stamps
  

See also:

• Botswana - national index
• High Commissioner for Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland
• Khoisan People
• Southern African Development Community(SADC)
• Southern African Vexillological Association (SAVA)
• African Union (AU)
  

Explanation of the flag

The colourson the flag correspond to those on the nationalcoat of arms.The blue represents water (the motto on the national arms isPULA, meaning "let there berain"). The white-black-white bands depict the racial harmony of thepeople as well as the pluralist nature of the society. They are inspired by thecoat of the zebra, the national animal.
Nick Artimovich,01 November 1996

The blue colour a symbol ofrain, how lovely!
Heather Chalcraft,27 Apr 2003

I returned today after tendays inBotswana.Flag flying is not very common and is mainly restricted to the government andthe larger commercial organisations. Many of the flags which I saw were in avery sorry state of repair - a case of up the pole and forgotten! On furtherinquiry I learned that there is a law which requires government permission tobe granted before the flag ofBotswanacan be flown. How effectively this is implemented (if at all) is unclear but itmight explain the lack of flags. Certainly there were no flags available forpurchase.
Bruce Berry,14 April 1998

The colour shade for theblue used on the national flag is being discussed by the Cabinet.  Therehas been a problem with standardisation and so flags with various shades ofblue (from different manufacturers) are seen and the government wants to changethis.  As soon as I get the confirmed details, I will share them with you.
Bruce Berry, 10 May 2001

I just came across thefollowing account of the origins of the Botswana flag and coat of arms inGeorge Winstanley�s book,Under Two Flags in Africa: Recollections of aBritish Administrator in the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Botswana 1954 to1972 (Colchester: Blackwater Books, 2000). George Winstanley arrived in theBechuanaland Protectorate in1954. After being a District Administrator atseveral stations, he was transferred to Headquarters in 1962. He was a Clerk tothe Legislative and Executive Councils and later Clerk to the Cabinet where heworked closely with Sir Seretse Khama where he helped to organise the firstgeneral election in 1965 and the second in 1969. On his retirement in 1972 he wasPermanent Secretary for Agriculture.

Regarding the Botswanaflag, he states:
"...But I became much involved in selecting a national anthem and in thedesign of the coat of arms and the flag... It was decided to hold competitionsfor all three to try and involve the population at large. I issued thenecessary notices and received several entries for each category...�(p.235).�"The entries received inthe flag competition were hopeless so I designed the flag myself.�I wanted to make it easy to draw hence theall the straight horizontal lines. The blue background of the flag representswater � vital to the country's agriculture - and the black central stripbordered with two white strips represents racial harmony" (p.236).

Regarding the coat of arms:
"The coat of arms proved more difficult. We received two good entries, onefrom Lady Fawcus (spouse of Sir Robert Peter Fawcus, HM Commissioner between1963 and 1965) and one form Lady England (spouse of the then Director ofAgriculture). However, the Cabinet decided that neither was suitable as itstood and asked me to arrange for the best in both to be combined. My wife madethe sketch as directed and after Cabinet approval this was submitted to theCollege of Heralds in the UK who made more alterations and produced a finaldesign. The two zebra symbolise the abundant wildlife in the country as well asalluding to black/white co-operation, the ivory tusk also refers to thewildlife, the ox head and the stalk of sorghum refer to agricultural resources,the interlocking cogwheels suggest the mineral potential and the wavy bluelines emphasise the importance of water in an arid country such as Botswana.The supporting word "PULA" - the Setswana word for 'rain' - suggestshappiness and optimism" (p.236).
Gerald Noeske,11 Sept 2004

LegislationonBotswanaemblems

Act 25,1966

PART I Blazon of theArms or Ensigns Armorial ofBotswana

Argent three barrulets wavyin fesse azure between in chief three cog-wheels, one above engaged with twobelow and in base a bull's head caboshed proper, and for the supporters oneither side a zebra the dexter supporting an elephant's tusk the sinister astalk of sorghum proper. Motto "Pula".

PART II Design of theNational Flag ofBotswana

Five horizontal stripes having colour and width as follows, that is to say taken from the top:
1st Stripe - azure blue having a width equal to 9/24ths of the total depth of theflag.
2nd Stripe - white having a width equal to 1/24th of such depth.
3rd Stripe - black having a width equal to 4/24ths of such depth.
4th Stripe - white having a width equal to 1/24th of such depth.
5th Stripe - azure blue having a width equal to 9/24ths of such depth.

PART III  Design ofthe Standard of the President ofBotswana

An azure blue flag with ablack circular disk (having a diameter equal to 12/24ths of the depth of theflag) superimposed on the centre of the flag, a white circular disk (having adiameter equal to 10/24ths of the depth of the flag) superimposed on the centreof the black disk and the coat of arms superimposed on the white disk.
Source:Governmentdocument aboutBotswanaEmblems.
SantiagoTazon,27 Apr 2001

This agrees with what I posted recently based on Album 2000 information. However, I drew the white disk on presidential flag sized 11/24 (as I had no numbers there).
Željko Heimer,30 Apr 2001

Constructionsheet

imagebyŽeljko Heimer, 18 Mar 2001

The construction sheet isprovided along the edges of the figure so (9+1+4+1+9):36. The image at FOTWagrees with this, either Mark Sensen was aware of this data or he had a goodartistic feeling.
Željko Heimer,18 Mar 2001

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual, London, 2012) [loc12] provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each National Olympic Committee was sent an image of their flag, including the PMS shades, by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) for their approval. Once this was obtained, the LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specifications may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the National Olympic Committee believed their flag to be.

For Botswana : PMS 277 blue and black. The vertical version is simply the flag turned through 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner,10 Oct 2012

Botswana flag as a casket cover

Who was "El Negrode Banyoles"?
Ca. 1830, two French adventurers-naturalists living in Cape Town, Jules andEdouard Verreaux, unearthed the corpse of a tribal chief shortly after hisfuneral and stuffed it using taxidermy methods. In 1888, the Catalanveterinarian Francisco Darder, then curator of the zoo of Barcelona, bought thestuffed corpse, known as "the Bechuana", and exhibited it later inthe Darder Museum he founded in 1916 in Banyoles (province of Gerona) todisplay his naturalist's collections. "El Negro" became a source offascination and legends for the inhabitants of the city.
In 1991, the physician Alphonse Arcelin, of Haitian origin, asked themunicipality to remove the corpse from the Museum. The corpse was removed fromthe Museum during the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games to avoid a risk of boycottby African countries.
In 1996, the Spanish government decided to avoid an international crisis andasked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find a solution. Since the warrior hadlived inSouthern Africa, and even if his realethnical origin is unknown, the government ofBotswana decided to claim andre-bury the corpse. The warrior had probably lived in what is nowSouth Africa,butSouth Africawas not considered a suitable solution because of its political situation.
In September 2000, the corpse was removed one night from the Museum and sent toGaborone, thecapital ofBotswana,and buried during an official ceremony in  Tsholofelo. Since it was notpossible to decide whether the warrior was a Tswana, a Bushman (Khoisan) he wasre-buried as an "African".
Ivan Sache,26 Nov 2000

Botswana offers but one example of an actual Flag on Stamp, namely the commemorative issue for the tenth anniversary of the University of Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland; this features the flags of all three of the countries (I believe that the university has subsequently split into its component parts, but I may be wrong onthis). There are a few issues which show the Botswana state arms, and while these are not specifically flag related I have included them for the benefit of those of us who might be interested in political or state heraldry; these issues are identified with an (H) after the topic.

NUMBER SUBJECT DATE TOPIC
241 Human Rights Year 1968 Arms of Botswana & Human Rights Emblem (H)
242/43 " " As above, but with different arrangements and positioning of symbols
284 Fifth Anniversary 1971 Arms & map of Botswana (H) of independence
317 Tenth Anniversary 1974 Map & flags of the three of University of countries Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland.
Ron Lahav,28 Jun 2005