A horizontal bicolour of red and blue with a black isosceles triangle based on the hoist-side and a green pall, a central green band that splits into a horizontal Y, centred over the partition lines and was edged in both white against the red and the blue bands and yellow against the triangle, in which the arms of the Y ends at the corners of the hoist and embraces the triangle on the hoist-side.
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 blackisosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow or goldbands; 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 theflag of the South African Republic, itself derived from theflag of the Netherlands, as well as theUnion Jack, while the remaining three colours were taken from the flag of theAfrican National Congress.Nicknames for the flag include theSeskleur (lit.'six colour' inAfrikaans)[1] and theRainbow Flag.[2]
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 and without a seal and brocade. The design and colours are a synopsis of principal elements of the country's flag history. The colours themselves have no essential meaning.[3]: 18
According to official South African government information, the South African flag is "a synopsis of principal elements of the country's flag history." Although different people may attribute personal symbolism to the individual colours or colour combinations , "no universal symbolism should be attached to any of the colours." The only symbolism in the flag is the V or Y shape, which can be interpreted as "the convergence of diverse elements within South African society, taking the road ahead in unity".[4] Frederick Gordon Brownell who created the flag has said that the green Y-shaped part of the flag was influenced by thechasubles worn byAnglican 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.
On 31 May 1910 these four colonies came together to form the Union of South Africa and the individual colonial flags were no longer used and new South African flags came into being. Once again, as a British dominion the British Union Flag was to continue as the national flag and the standard British ensign pattern was used as a basis for distinctive South African flags.
As was the case throughout theBritish Empire, theRed andBlue Ensigns were the official flags for merchant and government vessels at sea, and the British Admiralty authorised them to bedefaced in the fly with theshield from the South Africancoat of arms.[6][7] Theseensigns were not intended to be used as the Union's national flag, although they were used by some people as such. Although these ensigns were primarily intended for maritime use, they were also flown on land.
TheSouth Africa Red Ensign was South Africa'sde facto national flag between 1910 and 1928 and was flown at times from Government buildings.
The design of the Red Ensign was modified slightly in 1912 when the shield was placed on a white disc so as to make it more distinguishable. The Red Ensign continued to be used as the flag of the South African merchant marine until 1951.[8]
A variant of South Africa Red Ensign with the full coat of arms of South Africa on a white disc. Commonly flown by civilians.
TheBlue Ensign was flown over the Union's offices abroad between 1910 and 1928.
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 was not the Union Flag alone.[9][10]
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,[3]: 70 it was only after a coalition government took office in 1925 that a bill was introduced inParliament to introduce a national flag for the Union. This provoked an often violent controversy that lasted for three years based on whether the British Union Flag should be included in the new flag design or not. TheNatal Province even threatened tosecede from the Union should it be decided to remove it.
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 "Prince's Flag" (Prinsenvlag inAfrikaans) that was originally theDutch flag; it consisted of orange, white, and blue horizontal stripes. A version of this flag had been used as the flag of theDutch East India Company (known as the VOC) at the Cape (with the VOC logo in the centre) from 1652 until 1795. The South African addition to the design was the inclusion of three smaller flags centred in the white stripe. The miniature flags were the BritishUnion Flag (mirrored) towards the hoist, theflag of the Orange Free State hanging vertically in the middle and theTransvaal Vierkleur towards the fly. The position of each of the miniature flags is such that each has equal status. However, to ensure that the Dutch flag in the canton of the Orange Free State flag is placed nearest to the upper hoist of the main flag, the Free State flag must be reversed. The British Union Flag, which is nearest to the hoist and is thus in a more favoured position, is spread horizontally from the Free State flag towards the hoist and is thus also reversed. Although placed horizontally furthest from the hoist, to balance the British Union Flag, the Vierkleur is the only one of the miniature flags which is spread in the same direction as the main flag. This compensates for its otherwise less favourable position. In this arrangement, each of the miniature flags enjoy equal precedence.[11] Note that the miniature flags of theTransvaal Republic and theOrange Free State both contain miniature flags of theNetherlands, while the miniature flag of theUnited Kingdom is a composition of the flags ofEngland,Scotland and theAnglo-Irish people, making the old South African flag the only former national flag in the world containing five flags within three flags within a flag.
The choice of thePrinsenvlag (which was believed to be the first flag hoisted on South African soil by Jan van Riebeeck of the VOC) as the basis upon which to design the South African flag had more to do with compromise than Afrikaner political desires, since thePrinsenvlag was politically neutral, as it was no longer the national flag of any nation. A further element of this compromise was that the British Union Flag would continue to fly alongside the new South African national flag over official buildings. This dual flag arrangement continued until 1957 when the British Union Flag lost its official status per anAct of Parliament.
Following areferendum the country became arepublic 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 still resented the fact that the British Union Flag was a part of the flag. In 1968, the thenPrime Minister,John Vorster, proposed the adoption of a new flag from 1971, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the declaration of a republic but this never materialised.[12]
Since 2019, public display of this flag in South Africa is generally consideredhate speech (for being a potential symbol ofapartheid andwhite supremacy) and therefore prohibited, with exceptions for artistic, academic and journalistic purposes, as well as for museums and places of historical interest.[13]
South African Ambassador to the U.S.Harry Schwarz presenting the new flag to the U.S. presidentBill Clinton and vice presidentAl Gore in May 1994.
The present South African national flag was first flown on 27 April 1994,[14] the day of the1994 election. However, the flag was first intended to be an interim flag only, and its design was decided upon only a week beforehand.[15]
The choice of a new flag was part of the negotiation process set in motion whenNelson 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.[16] Six designs were shortlisted and presented to the public and the Negotiating Council, but none elicited enthusiastic support. A number of design studios were then contacted to submit further proposals, but these also did not find favour.Parliament went intorecess at the end of 1993 without a suitable candidate for the new national flag.
In February 1994,Cyril Ramaphosa andRoelf Meyer, the chief negotiators of theAfrican National Congress and theNational 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 HeraldFred Brownell,[17][note 1] who had also claimed to have previously designed theNamibian flag.[citation needed] 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 inNelson Mandela being inaugurated as South Africa's first democratically elected president on 10 May 1994.[18] The flag was well received by most South Africans, though a small minority objected to it; hundreds ofAfrikaner Volksfront members inBloemfontein burned the flag in protest a few weeks before the April 1994 elections.[14]
The proclamation of the new national flag bySouth African PresidentF. W. de Klerk was only published on 20 April 1994,[5] 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 thefinal draft of the constitution. The Constitutional Assembly was charged with the responsibility of drafting the country's new constitution and had called for submissions, inter alia, on the issues of its various national symbols. It received 118 submissions recommending the retention of the new flag and 35 suggesting changes to it. Thus on 28 September 1995 it decided that the flag should be retained unchanged and accordingly it was included as Section One of the Constitution of South Africa which came into force in February 1997.[19]
The South African government published guidelines 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.
TheSouthern 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 generally acceptedvexillological etiquette and principles in mind.[20]
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 greenpall 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:[21]
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.
^abBrownell, Frederick G (2015).Convergence and Unification : The National Flag of South Africa (1994) in historical perspective (PhD). Pretoria: University of Pretoria.hdl:2263/50847.
^Merchant Shipping Act 1951 (South Africa); South AfricaGovernment Gazette No 6085 dated 25 July 1958.
^Burgers, A.P. (2008).The South African flag book: the history of South African flags from Dias to Mandela. Protea Book House. pp. 152–153.ISBN978-1869191122.
^Murphy, Allison (1989).The South African family encyclopaedia. Struik Publishers. p. 124.ISBN0869778870.
^Bornman, E. (2006). "National symbols and nation-building in the post-apartheid South Africa".International Journal of Intercultural Relations.30 (3):383–399.doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.09.005.hdl:10500/23252.
^Berry, Bruce B. (September 2015),"Zero to Hero" – the role of the national flag in nation building in post-apartheid South Africa,Sydney: 26th International Congress of Vexillology
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