After the Boer War of 1899 to 1902 and the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the flag of the British Union became the national flag of South Africa. As throughout the British Empire, the Red and Blue Ensign with the Union coat of arms were granted by the British Admiralty in 1910 for use at sea. In February 1994, Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer, respectively chief negotiators of the African National Congress and the then National Party government, were tasked with resolving the flag issue. If two national flags are displayed on cross bars, the hoists must be pointed towards each other and the flags must be fully unfurled. The flag should never be used as cloth to cover tables, lecterns or pedestals, or to be draped in balustrades. Eventually, a compromise was reached that led to the adoption of a separate Union flag in late 1927, and the project was first hoisted on May 31, 1928. The design was based on the Van Riebeeck or Prinsevlag (“Prince`s Flag” in Afrikaans), which was originally the Dutch flag and consisted of orange, white and blue horizontal stripes. A version of this flag was used from 1652 to 1795 as the flag of the Dutch East India Company in Cape Town (with the VOC logo in the middle). The South African addition to the design was three smaller flags centered in the white stripe. The smallest flags were the Union flag to Hish, the quadruple quadruple Orange Free State suspended vertically, and the quadruple Transvaal to the fly. The Boer War between 1899 and 1902 ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902 and resulted in the fall of present-day South Africa under the British Union flag.

The former Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaanse (Transvaal) Republic, as well as the existing colonies of Cape Town and Natal, became British colonies. Everyone was also entitled to a colonial flag that followed the British tradition. If the flag is placed vertically on a wall, the red stripe should be to the left of the viewer with the hoist or cable seam at the top. If displayed horizontally, the hoist should be to the left of the viewer and the red band at the top. If the flag appears next to or behind the speaker during a meeting, it should be placed to the right of the speaker. If it is placed elsewhere in the meeting point, it must be to the right of the audience. Tradition also states that when a flag is draped vertically, it must not only be rotated 90 degrees, but also reversed. In the case of the South African flag, the black triangle should be at the top and the red stripe on the left. You “read” a flag like the pages of a book, from top to bottom and from left to right, and after turning, the results should be the same. It is also offensive to display the flag in a frayed or dirty state. The same rule applies to flagpoles and halyards used to raise the flag – they must always be in good condition.

The flag should never be disfigured by placing slogans, letters or drawings directly on the flag field. On 31 May 1910, these four colonies merged to form the Union of South Africa and individual colonial flags were no longer used and new South African flags were created. As a British Dominion, the British Union Flag was to continue to exist as the national flag and the standard British flag template was used as the basis for distinctive South African flags. Most of the time, people simply call it the “rainbow” flag. The Southern African Vexillological Association (SAVA), an unofficial association for the study of flags, published its own guide for the correct representation of the flag in 2002. This guide does not have official authority, but has been prepared taking into account generally accepted etiquette and vexillological principles. [19] At the time, it was the only national flag in the world to include six colors in its design. The design of South Africa`s new flag represented the unification of the diverse nation into a democratic state. The “Y” illustrates convergence and the way forward. The production or reproduction of the flag in any manner requires the permission of the President of South Africa. A heraldic description of the flag would be something like “per pall fesswise de gueules, sable et azure, un fesswise pall vert fimbriated argent, or et argent”.

In plain language, this means two equally broad horizontal bands of red (top) and blue, separated by a central green stripe that divides into a horizontal Y, whose arms end at the corners of the liftable side (and follow the diagonals of the flag). The Y includes a black isosceles triangle whose arms are separated by narrow yellow stripes; The red and blue stripes are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes. The stripes at the flying end are in the 5:1:3:1:5 ratio. The South African flag is the only six-coloured national flag in the world without a seal or brocade.