The flag of South Africa was adopted on April 27, 1994 to represent the new democratic country. It has horizontal bands of red, white, green, white, and blue, with a black triangle on the hoist side containing yellow and green stripes. The flag's design was chosen by State Herald Frederick Brownell to unite South Africa's diverse population and history under the new democracy. It incorporates colors from previous South African flags as well as the ANC flag to represent the various cultural and political influences in the country.
2. The current flag of Republic of South Africa was
adopted on 27 April 1994, at the beginning of the 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.
3. The flag has horizontal bands of red and blue, 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.
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.
4. Rectangular flag in the proportion of two in the width
to three in the length: per pall from the hoist, the
upper band red (chilli) and the lower band blue, with a
black triangle at the hoist; over the partition lines a
green pall one fifth the width of the flag, fabricated
white against the red (chilli) and blue, and gold
against the black triangle at the hoist; the width of the
pall and its fimbriations is one third the width of the
flag.
5. 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".
6. Three of the colours — black, green and yellow — are
found in the flag of the African National Congress.
The other three — red, white and blue — are used in
the old Flag of Transvaal, the modern flag of the
Netherlands and the flag of the United Kingdom; the
colours white and blue were also found in the old flag
of South Africa. Former South African President F.W.
de Klerk, who proclaimed the new flag on 20 April
1994, stated in his autobiography, The Last Trek: a New
Beginning, that chilli red was chosen instead of plain
red.
7. 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 Ensign were the official flags for
merchant and government vessels at sea, and the
British Admiralty authorized 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.
8. The Red Ensign was South Africa's de facto national
flag 1910–1928.
The design of the Red Ensign was modified slightly in
1912.
9. 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. Natal
Province even threatened to secede from the Union.
10. The present South African national flag was first flown
on 27 April 1994.
A final design was adopted on 15 March 1994, derived
from a design developed by Frederick Brownell, who
had also designed the Flag of Namibia.
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 very well received and was
included in the final draft without much debate.
