Last modified: 2005-08-26 by bruce berry
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![[Old flag of South Africa]](../images/z/za-1928.gif)
by Mark Sensen
Following the Union of South Africa , that is the joining if the former colonies of Natal, Cape, Transvaal and Orange River on 31 May 1910, South Africa used defaced red and blue ensigns. Having suffered defeat in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), many South Africans particularly of Boer extraction found these flags unacceptable. Discussions about a new flag had taken place from time to time but were interrupted by such pressing issues as World War I and achieving Dominion Status within the British Empire etc. and it was only in 1925 that the matter began to receive renewed attention. The Balfour Declaration adopted at the Imperial Conference of 1926 defined in general terms the mutual constitutional relationship of the self-governing members of the British Empire (later Commonwealth) whereby Great Britain and the dominions were "equal in status, in no way subordinate to one another" and as such South Africa, as an independent state was entitled to a flag of its own. The flag issue in South Africa was also considered along with the question of nationality.
The issue of inclusion of the Union Jack proved to be a very emotional subject, with the English-speakers on the one side demanding its inclusion and the Afrikaners (Boers) seeing its a symbol of British imperialism demanding it be excluded! A number of proposals were put forward but it was not until the Princevlag design based on the House of Orange that consensus began to emerge. This design was based on the commonly held view that Jan van Riebeeck has raised an orange, white and blue horizontal tricolour when he arrived at the Cape in April 1652. The original design had a quartered shield in the centre, each quarter having a symbol to represent the territories making up the Union. Various other designs were submitted to a Parliamentary Committee which had been established to resolve the issue but none found favour.
The compromise design eventually adopted saw the flag of the Republic of the
Orange Free State hanging vertically in the centre of the white stripe of the
Princevlag with the Union Jack spread horizontally towards the hoist from
the centre and the flag of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (Transvaal) spread
towards the fly. In terms of the Union Nationality and Flags Act of 1927
South Africa had two flags, namely the Union Jack to denote association
with the British Commonwealth of Nations and a national flag described as being:
"Three horizontal stripes of equal width from top to bottom, orange,
white, blue; in the centre of the white stripe the old Orange Free State Flag
hanging vertically, spread in full, with the Union Jack adjoining horizontally,
spread in full, towards the pole, and the old Transvaal Vierkleur adjoining
horizontally spread in full away from the pole, equidistant from the margins of
the white stripe. The flags shall be of the same size and their shape
shall be proportionally the same as the National Flag and the width of each
equal to one-third of the width of the white stripe". This Act came into
force on 31 May 1928 when both the new national flag and the Union Jack were
hoisted together for the first time at simultaneous ceremonies at the Houses of
Parliament in Cape Town and at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. The flags
first hoist at Parliament are on display in the Old Assembly chamber.
The dual flag arrangement continued until 06 April 1957 when the Government brought it to an end with the Flags Amendment Act. This Act also provided for the sole national anthem of South Africa to be Die Stem van Suid-Afrika/The Call of South Africa without "God Save the Queen" despite Queen Elizabeth II still being head of state. South Africa withdrew from the British Commonwealth of Nations and became a republic on 31 May 1961. No changes were made to the national flag or anthem.
The flag, commonly known as the
oranje-blanje-blou (orange, white and blue) continued to fly until it was
replaced on 27 April 1994 by the flag representing a democratic South Africa.
Bruce Berry, 01 Feb 1998
What are the colour specifications of the former (1928-1994) South African
flag in (BS) RGB values?
NB: Blue was BCC 150 Lapis Lazuli in the British Colour Council's "Dictionary
of Color Standards".
Mark Sensen, 15 Jun 2002
The only colour specifications I could find for the old SA flag in the old British Standard Colour Classifications are:
Bruce Berry, 3 Jul 2002
Research into the controversy
surrounding what flag was used by Jan van Riebeeck when he started his
replenishment station in Table Bay on 6 April 1652 reveals the following as
outlined in my forthcoming book on SA flags:
"Van Riebeeck makes no mention in his Journal that he hoisted a flag, but it is
assumed that he did. There is considerable controversy as to which flag Van
Riebeeck might have hoisted. The flag generally used by Dutch vessels at, or
before that time was in the colours of the House of Orange in honour of the
Prince of Orange, the Stadtholder of the
Netherlands. It was the
orange, white and blue horizontal tricolour or Prinzenvlag. It was
originally used by the so-called Watergeuse or Waterbeggars at sea during their
struggle against the Spanish during the Eighty-Year's War and by the end of the
war it was firmly established as the national flag of the Netherlands Republic.
It is considered that the flag had its origins with the flag of the Province of
Zealand which was red, white and blue horizontally. The red was then replaced by
orange in honour of William the Silent, Prince of Orange and its first
appearance as this Prinzenvlag occurred circa 1572.
Later, towards the middle of the next century, the orange was again replaced by
red. The reason for the change of the orange colour to red is not known with
certainty, but some authorities ascribe it to the fact that the orange coloured
dye was not easy to make and did not remain colour-fast.
Van der Laars, an authority on the flags of the Netherlands, states that from
about 1648 and certainly by 1663, the orange had changed to red, and the orange,
white and blue tricolour was replaced by the red, white and blue tricolour of
today. The point in dispute is whether it was already red at the time of Van
Riebeeck's arrival, or still orange. According to Van der Laars, it is likely
that it was still the orange version.
Gerard in Flags over South Africa (1952) [ger52], however, makes out a good case that it was already red. He quotes
sources, which indicates that most of the