Flag of South Africa
Officially Republic of South Africa
Locally iNingizimu Afrika
What the flag looks like
A green horizontal Y shape edged in white and gold, whose arms open toward the hoist around a black triangle edged in gold, with a red band above and a blue band below.
What it means
No official meaning is given, but the Y shape is commonly read as diverse elements converging and moving forward together.
How to remember it
South Africa's
sideways green Y merges two paths into one road, with a black triangle at the hoist and red above, blue below.
Fun facts
- The flag was designed by Frederick Brownell just weeks before the 1994 election and was meant to be temporary.
- South Africa has three capital cities, one for each branch of government.
South Africa at a glance
- Capital
- Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial)
- Region
- Southern Africa
- Population
- 64 million
- Area
- 1,221,037 km²
- Languages
- Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
- Currency
- South African rand (R)
- Flag adopted
- 1994
Flags often confused with South Africa
- Vanuatu: Vanuatu and South Africa both have a sideways Y around a black triangle at the hoist. South Africa's Y is green with blue below; Vanuatu's Y is yellow with green below and a tusk emblem.