This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

South Africa

Last modified: 2000-01-28 by ole andersen
Keywords: south africa | africa | olympics |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors


[Flag of South Africa]
by mark sensen

Other pages:

See also:

Origin and colors of the new flag

The strips are orange and blue, the same of the previous flag. The added colors are the same of African National Congress's flag, which is composed of three equal horizontal strips: black, green and yellow. Therefore I argue the new flag is the merge of the two flags.

Apart from strips' colors (orange and blue instead of red and green), the color of the second fimbration (green instead of black) and the absence of a coat in the triangle, the new african flag is very similar to Vanuatu's one.
giuseppe bottasini

C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network), reporting on the election in South Africa, showed the "interim" flag which will be used for the next five years; the new parliament will choose a permanent flag. In English blazon, it is:

Tierced in pairle couchy sable, gules and azure, a pairle couchy vert fimbriated or to dexter and argent to chief and base.

I think the interim flag for South Africa was said to be composed of the colors of flags of past administrations. Which is as plausible as anything, since it includes all the heraldic tinctures.
anton sherwood

According to the SAVA Newsletter, SN 8/94, 21 March 1994, the colors are: 

Colour		CKS colour number
Green		42c (Sprectrum green)
Black		401c (Blue/black)
White		701c (National Flag white)
Gold		724c (Gold/yellow)
Red		750c (Chilli red)
Blue		762c (National Flag blue)

jon radel

The NY Times reports the color specifications as "Blue Black", "Gold Yellow", "Spectrum Green:, "Chili Red", "National Flag White" and "National Flag Blue". One wonders if the last is the same as "Old Glory Blue". The arms of the republic have not been changed, and continue to reflect the four defunct provinces.
will linden

South Africa's current flag - designed for the "interim" period - should remain the country's national flag under the final constitution which comes into force in 1999, the Constituional Assembly (charged with writing the final constitution) recommended on 28 September 1995.
bruce berry - 1995-10-02

South Africans call this the "rainbow nation" based on the multi racial, multi ethnic and multi cultural composition of the country, hence many refer to the new flag as the "rainbow" flag.... I spend a considerable amount of time explaining that the gay movement already uses this phrase for their flag and that we should think of another term when refering to our national flag!!!
bruce berry - 1996-05-09

Nickname for the flag

Here are some suggestions about a "nickname" for the flag:

  • Considering what South Africa has gone through, and what the flag looks like, I suggest: Black and Blue and Red all over. - nathan bliss
  • I personally like the Southern Pall. Or maybe the "Southern Crane"? (Legend has it that the letter "Y" derives from a Greek who saw a flight of cranes in that formation...) - dipesh navsaria
  • I've heard the flag described - very unflatteringly - as the Technicolour Y-fronts.... Hmmm... how about the Unity Flag, or something similar? - james dignan
  • The "Southern Union" would be good, if it didn't sound so much like a wire service or a train line. How about "The Southern Unity"? Gives it a good, poetic quality. - steve kramer
  • "Jack Boven", or maybe "Oranje Union"? "The Flying Y"? Three Cheers for the "Red, White, And Blue, And Black, And Yellow, And Green" "Rainbow Salad" "The Southern Pall"? "The Green Pall"? "The Flying Pall"? ("Pall" being the heraldic term for the "Y" shape on a coat-of-arms - maybe even "The Union Pall"?) - nick artimovich

Arms

is South Africa still using its old Arms?

Yes.

The Arms granted by Royal Warrant to the then Union of South Africa on 17 September 1910 are still in use (with minor changes which have occurred over the years). The Arms did not change when South Africa became a Republic on 31 May 1961 and were adopted unchanged in the Interim Constitution which came into force on 27 April 1994.
However, no mention is made of the Arms in the 1996 Constitution (unlike the flag which is outlined in Schedule 1).
Bruce Berry - 1998-02-20

The former Colonies

Were any British Ensigns in use in S. Africa pre-1910? What were the flags of the Cape Colony and Natal? Did the Boer states retain their "native" flags under British control?
Josh Fruhlinger - 1996-10-01

All four colonies had flag badges - they formed the four quarters of the post-1910 flag badge which was itself the shield of arms of the Union of South Africa (and, if I recall correctly, is still used by the "New South Africa" today, as no-one has yet come up with a better design acceptable to all)
Roy Stilling - 1996-10-02

Yes - SAVA published a Journal entitled "The Union Jack over Southern and Central Africa, 1795 - 1994" in 1994 which covers all these flags (and those used in what is now Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana, Malawi etc).
Bruce Berry - 1996-10-07

See for separate articles on the colonies :

The Olympic Flag of 1992

The South African Olympic Flag appears in Flagmaster No.84 as part of a large article by William Crampton on flags at the Olympics. The flag is illustrated at page 36 of Flag Bulletin Vol XXXI:!/145 dated Jan-Apr 1992 and in the SAVA Newsletter 3/92 dated July 1992. The SAVA article notes that there were two versions of what it described as the "Interim Olympic Flag for South Africa" - an initital design which included the words SOUTH AFRICA and a modified version which deleted the words. It also appeared as a colour illustration in 1992 in a TIME magazine (sorry I don't have a date).
Ralph Kelly - 10 November 1998