See also: List of South African flags § Flags proposed in the 1920sīefore the only flag that had official status in the Union of South Africa was the United Kingdom's Union Jack as South Africa was part of the British Empire. In 2019, the Equality Court ruled that public displays of the flag would be classed as hate speech, although exceptions would be allowed for 'cases of journalistic, academic and artistic expression' and for museums and places of historical interest. It was replaced by the current flag of South Africa in 1994 with the commencement of the country's transitional constitution and the end of apartheid.įollowing its retirement in 1994, the flag has been controversial within South Africa, with some people viewing it as historic and a symbol of Afrikaner heritage, while others view it as a symbol of apartheid and white supremacy. As a result, it was the national flag during the Apartheid era of 1948–1994, and it is also known as the 'Apartheid flag'. However, Vorster's idea did not gain parliamentary support and the flag change never happened. In 1968, Prime Minister John Vorster proposed that a new national flag for South Africa be adopted in 1971 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the declaration of a republic. After South Africa became a republic in 1961, the flag was retained as the national flag, despite the country having left the Commonwealth. In 1948, after their election victory, the National Party unsuccessfully tried to amend the flag design to remove what they called the 'Blood Stain' (the flag of the United Kingdom). It was adopted in 1928 by an act of Parliament from the first Afrikaner majority government.

A nickname for the flag was Oranje, Blanje, Blou ( Afrikaans for: ' orange, white, blue'). Based on the Dutch Prince's Flag, it contained the flag of the United Kingdom, the flag of the Orange Free State and the flag of the South African Republic in the centre. It was also the flag of South West Africa (now Namibia) to 1990, when that territory was under South African administration. The flag of South Africa from 1928 to 1994 was the flag of the Union of South Africa from 1928 to 1961 and later the flag of the Republic of South Africa until 1994. The South African 'Red Ensign' used unofficially as a de facto national flag until 1928 it continued being used sparsely in limited contexts until the early 1950s. Three horizontal bands of orange, white and blue with three small flags (the Union Jack to the left, the vertical version of the flag of the Orange Free State in the centre and the flag of the South African Republic to the right) centered on the white band. For the new flag, see Flag of South Africa. This article is about the flag from 1928 to 1994.

Black and white union jack flag