🇿🇦 The colours of South Africa
7 meanings recorded, 6 colours tied to the country and 2 colour cities.
South Africa’s flag features six colours: red, blue, green, black, gold, and white. Officially, these colours have no fixed meanings, but the flag’s Y-shape stands for the coming together of the country’s diverse people. The colours reflect elements from earlier South African flags and the African National Congress.
Where no official value is given, the swatch shows the colour family, not the exact shade.
- The flag has six colours, more than most national flags.
- No official meaning is given to any colour.
- The Y-shape stands for unity in diversity.
- Three colours come from the African National Congress flag.
- The flag was designed and adopted in 1994.
The colours of the flag of South Africa
The South African flag displays six colours: red, blue, green, black, gold, and white. These are arranged in a unique pattern, with a green Y-shape bordered by white, separating red and blue bands, and a black triangle edged with gold. Officially, the colours themselves are not assigned specific meanings. The only stated symbolism is the Y-shape, which represents the unity of South Africa’s diverse communities moving forward together. The colours were chosen to reflect both the country’s flag history and the influence of the African National Congress, but any further meaning is left to personal or cultural interpretation.
How the colours were chosen of South Africa
South Africa’s flag history is marked by compromise and change. Earlier flags included British and Dutch elements, such as the Union Jack and the orange, white, and blue Prinsenvlag. The 1928–1994 flag featured a combination of these, with miniature flags representing the country’s colonial past. The current flag was adopted in 1994, following a public competition and negotiation during the transition to democracy. Its design was finalised just a week before its first use in the 1994 elections, and it became permanent after public support was confirmed in 1995.
Official shades and rules of South Africa
There are official guidelines for displaying the flag at government flag stations, published in 2001, but these do not apply to the general public. The flag’s proportions are two units high by three units long. The coloured stripes at the fly end are in a 5:1:3:1:5 ratio. No official shades for the colours are specified in the sources.
The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Flag of South Africa", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
What colours mean in South Africa
Customs vary by region, faith and family; these are the meanings most often recorded.
Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters wear red overalls and red berets, in parliament as well as at rallies, to show that they speak for workers.
Politics and protestAngerSource: Economic Freedom FightersThe flag used from 1928 to 1994 was orange, white and blue, after the old Dutch Prince's Flag. It is now tied to the apartheid years, and displaying it has been ruled hate speech.
Politics and protestSource: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)Green and gold are the sporting colours. The Springboks, the national rugby team, play in a dark green jersey with a gold collar.
Festival and celebrationPrideSource: South Africa national rugby union teamThe six colours of the flag adopted in 1994 have no official meanings. Black, green and gold echo the African National Congress, and red, white and blue the older Boer and British flags.
Politics and protestSource: Flag of South AfricaXhosa boys going through initiation into manhood cover their bodies in white clay while they live apart from the village. It is washed off when they return as men.
Sacred and holyProtection and healingSource: UlwalukoIn many Black communities a widow wears black clothes for up to a year after her husband's death, and puts them off at a family ceremony.
Mourning and deathGriefSource: MourningThe black, green and gold of the African National Congress stand for the people, the land and the mineral wealth under it.
Politics and protestPrideSource: African National CongressColour and feeling in South Africa
Colour cities of South Africa
Colours tied to South Africa
#CC7722
Ochre
A natural earth pigment ranging from yellow to deep orange or brownPigment · 🇦🇺 Australia +5
Grey
Hematite
A mineral iron oxide, black to red, used since prehistory as a pigment and oreColour named from nature · 🇿🇦 South Africa +5
White
Antimony trioxide
A white antimony compound used in flame retardants and glassmakingPigment · 🇨🇳 China +4
Orange
Tenné
A rare heraldic stain of orange-tawny, named for tanned leatherNamed shade · 🇫🇷 France +3
Blue
Indigofera tinctoria
A shrub whose leaves yield natural indigo dyeColour named from nature · 🇮🇳 India +5
Red
Scarlet GN
A synthetic red azo dye once used in foods and now mainly in cosmeticsDye · 🇺🇸 United States +4
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sienna: DanielCD~commonswiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tenné: Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Public domain, source
- Indigofera tinctoria: Kurt Stüber [1], CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ochre: Marco Almbauer, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bo Kaap Za: Daniel Case, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ndebele Villages Za: Angela Abel, CC BY 4.0, source