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List of South African flags

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List of South African flags

This article lists the flags of the various colonies and states that have existed in South Africa since 1652.

Contents

Historical flags 1652–1928

  • Many flags were used in South Africa prior to political unification in 1910.
  • The original Dutch East India Company colony at the Cape of Good Hope (1652–1795) flew the Dutch flag, with the VOC logo in the centre. This flag was also flown during the period of Batavian Republic rule (1803–06).
  • The Boer Republics, i.e. Orange Free State (1854–1902), South African Republic (1857–1902), Stellaland (1882–85), Goshen (1883–85), the Nieuwe Republiek (1884–88), and Klein Vrystaat (1886–1891) had their own flags. Several were derived from the Dutch flag.
  • The British colonies that existed in the 19th century, flew the British flags, and from the early 1870s some, i.e. Natal, Cape Colony, and later the Orange River Colony and Transvaal, added their own colonial flag badges.
  • The Union of South Africa, formed in 1910, initially used a red ensign, defaced with a badge depicting the Union coat of arms. This was superseded by the first South African national flag, introduced in 1928.

    • National flag 1928–1994

  • The flag was introduced by the Hertzog administration, after several years of political controversy. It was approved by Parliament in 1927, and first hoisted on May 31, 1928.
  • The flag reflected the Union's predecessors. The basis was the Prince's Flag (royal tricolour) of the Netherlands, with the addition of a Union Jack to represent the Cape and Natal, the former Orange Free state flag, and the former South African Republic flag.
  • Until 1957, the flag was flown subordinate to the British Union Jack.
  • The flag remained unchanged when South Africa became a republic on May 31, 1961. However, there was pressure to change the flag, particularly from Afrikaners who resented the fact that the Union Flag was a part of the flag. The then prime minister, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, had a "clean" flag, comprising three vertical stripes of orange, white, and blue, with a leaping Springbok over a wreath of six Proteas in the centre, designed, but he was assassinated before he could introduce it, and the project died with him in 1966.

    • Homeland flags 1966–1994

  • Nine of the ten Black 'homelands' which were created inside South Africa under the apartheid system, had their own flags, i.e. Transkei (1966–94), Bophuthatswana (1973–94), Ciskei (1973–94), Gazankulu (1973–94), Venda (1973–94), Lebowa (1974–94), QwaQwa (1975–94), KwaZulu (1977–94), and KwaNdebele (1982–94).
  • All these flags became obsolete when the homelands were reincorporated into South Africa on April 27, 1994.

    • National flag 1994–

  • South Africa was reconstituted as a democratic state, with equal rights for men and women of all races, in 1994. The old flag's long association with the apartheid era made it unacceptable for the new era, and a new flag was therefore designed by the State Herald, Frederick Brownell. It was approved by the Transitional Executive Council on March 20, 1994, and officially authorised by state president F.W. de Klerk on April 20, 1994. The flag was officially hoisted a week later, on April 27, 1994.
  • The new flag was intended as an interim measure, but it proved so popular that when the final Constitution was prepared in 1996, it became the permanent flag.

    • References

    List of South African flags Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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