South African flag, coat of arms and currency

South African flag

The South African national flag first flew on 10 May 1994 the day Nelson Mandela became president and two weeks after the country's first democratic elections of 27 April 1994 not as a symbol of a political party, nor of a government, but as a possession of the people.

The quote comes from the introduction to Flying with Pride: The Story of the South African Flag, a coffee table book derived from the incredible variety of ways in which this unique cloth has become woven into the fabric of South African society.

The flag was originally commissioned as a temporary flag only and was a last minute job, barely making it onto the country's flagpoles in time to herald the new South Africa.

How the flag came to be

Choosing 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 were chosen with much support.

A number of design studios were contracted to submit further suggestions and again there was no success and Parliament went into a break at the end of 1993 without a suitable candidate for the new national flag.

In February 1994, Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer, chief negotiators of the African National Congress and the National Party government, were given a task with resolving the flag issue. A final design was adopted on 15 March 1994 made from a design developed by SA's former State Herald Fred Brownell.

The announcement of the new national flag was only published on 20 April 1994 which was seven days before the flag was to be launched on the 27th, creating a wild last minute burst for flag manufacturers.

Writing in the foreword to Flying with Pride, Ramaphosa comments: "It was difficult to imagine, back then in the days of negotiations, that this assortment of shapes and colours we had before us would become such a central part of defining and identifying a new nation.”

"As South Africans daily work to build a better society, they are surrounded in many forms and countless manifestations by a flag which recognises and celebrates the unity and diversity of the country's people.”

"Few would have imagined, almost a decade ago, that this collection of colourful shapes could become such a potent symbol of unity and progress. But then fewer still would have thought that a country torn apart by decades of racial oppression could transform itself into a beacon of democracy and hope."

National coat of arms

South Africa's coat of arms, or state emblem, is the highest visual symbol of the state. Its central image is a secretary bird with uplifted wings, a sun rising above it. Below the bird is the protea, an indigenous South African flower, representing the harmony of all cultures and the country flowering as a nation.

The ears of wheat are emblems of the fertility of the land, while the tusks of the African elephant symbolise wisdom, steadfastness and strength.

At the centre stands a shield signifying the protection of South Africans, above which is a spear and knobkierie. These show the defence of peace rather than a posture of war.

Within the shield are images of the Khoisan people, the first inhabitants of the land. The figures are derived from images on the Linton Stone, a world-famous example of South African rock art. The motto of the coat of arms - !ke e:/xarra//ke - is in the Khoisan language of the /Xam people, and means "diverse people unite", or "people who are different joining together".

South African currency

The rand was introduced on 14 February 1961. A Decimal Coinage Commission had been set up in 1956 to consider a move away from the values of pounds, shillings and pence, giving its recommendation on 8 August 1958. It replaced the South African pound as legal tender, at the rate of 2 rand = 1 pound or 10 shillings to the rand. The government introduced a mascot, Decimal Dan, "the rand-cent man" to familiarize the people with the new currency. This took place in the same year that the Republic of South Africa was established.

Coins

 

Coins were introduced in 1961 in values of ½, 1, 2½, 5, 10, 20, 50 cents. In 1965, 2 cent coins replaced the 2½ cent coins. The ½ cent coin was last put into flow in 1973. The 2 rand was introduced in 1989, followed by 5 rand coins in 1994. Production of the 1 and 2 cent coins was discontinued in 2002, primarily due to inflation having devalued them, but they remain legal tender. Shops normally round the total purchase price of goods to the nearest 5 cents.

Banknotes

The first series of rand banknotes was introduced in 1961 in values of 1, 2, 10 and 20 rand, with similar designs and colors to the preceding pound notes to ease the transition. They bore the image of Jan van Riebeeck, the first V.O.C. administrator of Cape Town. Like the last pound notes, they came in two variants, one with English written first and the other with Afrikaans written first. This practice was continued in the 1966 series which included the first 5 rand notes but did not include the 20 rand denomination.

The 1978 series began with values of 2, 5 and 10 rand, with 20 and 50 rand introduced in 1984. This series saw a major design change. In addition, the series has only one variant for each value of note. Afrikaans was the first language on the 2, 10 and 50 rand, while English was the first language on 5 and 20 rand. The notes had the image of Jan van Riebeeck. The 1 rand note was replaced by a coin.

In the 1990s, the notes were redesigned with images of the Big Five wildlife species. 10, 20 and 50 rand notes were introduced in 1992, retaining the color scheme of the previous issue. Coins were introduced for 2 rand and 5 rand, keeping the notes of the previous series, mainly because of the severe wear and tear experienced with low value notes in the flow. In 1994 notes were introduced for 100 and 200 rand.

The 2005 series has the same design, but with additional security features such as color shifting ink on the 50 rand and higher. The front of all values are printed in English, while two other languages are printed on the reverses, making use of all eleven official languages of South Africa.

In 2010, the South African Reserve Bank and commercial banks withdrew all 1990 series R 200 banknotes due to relatively high quality counterfeit notes in circulation.

In 2011, the South African Reserve Bank issued 100 rand banknotes which were defective because they didn’t have fluorescent printing visible under UV light. In June, printing of this value was moved from the South African Bank Note Company to Crane Currency’s Swedish division, which produced 80 million 100 rand notes. The South African Reserve Bank shredded 3.6 million 100 rand banknotes printed by Crane Currency because they had the same serial numbers as a batch printed by the South African Bank Note Company. The notes printed in Sweden were not the correct color, and they were one millimetre short.

On 11 February 2012, President Jacob Zuma announced that the country would be issuing a complete set of banknotes bearing Nelson Mandela's image. They were entered into circulation on 6 November 2012.