South Africa

Republic of South Africa
Adopted	April 27, 1994
Designed by	Fred Brownell
Proportions	2:3

The flag of South Africa is a fimbriated pall design from the hoist. The pall is coloured green, the pile is coloured black, the upper trapezoid is coloured red, the lower trapezoid is colored blue, the fimbriation on the pile is coloured yellow, and the rest of the fimbriation is coloured white.

Colours

At the time the South African flag was adopted (in 1994), it was the only national flag having six colours in its design.

Colours	Textile colour	Pantone equivalent	RGB hexadecimal	RGB decimal	Sample
Green	CKS 42 c Spectrum green	3415 c	#007A49	0, 119, 73
Black	CKS 401 c Blue black		#000000	0, 0, 0
White	CKS 701 c National flag white		#FFFFFF	255, 255, 255
Gold/yellow	CKS 724 c Gold yellow	1235 c	#FFB612	255, 182, 18
Red	CKS 750 c Chilli red	179 c	#DE3831	222, 56, 49
Blue	CKS 762 c National flag blue	Reflex blue c	#002395	0, 35, 149

Symbolism

The black, yellow, and green represent the black population because of its association with the National African Congress Party. Red, white, and blue represent the white population because of its' history with the Dutch and the British. The 'Y" shape is a symbol of unification of the various ethnic groups.

Inspiration from the ANC?

It has been suggested that three of the South African flag’s colours (i.e. yellow/gold, black, and green) are influenced from the African National Congress.

History

1902-1910

The Second Anglo-Boer War (between 1899 and 1902) ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902 and resulted in what is now South Africa under the United Kingdom’s flag.

The design was a tricolour of red, white, and blue with a green vertical stripe on the hoist.

1910

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 the British Empire, the Red and Blue Ensigns were the official flags for merchant and government vessels at sea, and the British Admiralty authorised them to be defaced in the fly with the shield from 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. Although these ensigns were primarily intended for maritime use, they were also flown on land.

Historical flags

1910-1912. The de facto national flag sometimes flown from government buildings.

1912-1928. This flag remained the merchant ensign until 1951.

1928-1982

1982-1994

1994-present

Nicknames

• Rainbow flag
• Seskleur (Six-colour in Afrikaans)

See also

• Rainbow flag variation
• Political parties of South Africa
• Southern African Vexillological Association