Flag debate: Stop-gap design embraced by nation

The old Prinsevlag was seen as a symbol of repression for black South Africans. Picture / Supplied

The only six-coloured flag in the world, South Africa's design aimed to pull together all strands of class and race, and colourfully mark a new post-apartheid era.

But it was only ever intended to be a stop-gap flag, and was a last-minute choice that was so hurriedly picked it almost didn't make it on to the flagpole for former president Nelson Mandela's inauguration in May 1994.

It is now one of the most recognisable in the world, a potent symbol of a racial watershed and a centrepiece of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

The changing of the flag was one of the conditions of Mandela's negotiations with the then government after his release from prison in 1990.

The old Prinsevlag, based on the Dutch Flag, was considered a symbol of repression for blacks.

South African High Commissioner to New Zealand Anthony Mongalo said that in order to promote the nation's emerging democracy, the Government aimed to find a "consensus flag" by calling for public designs.

A nationwide competition in 1993 yielded 7000 entries. A shortlist of six was drawn up and presented to the public but none of them were enthusiastically received.

Several design studios were commissioned to come up with new flag proposals but again there was no perfect choice. When the South African Government went into recess at the end of 1993, and with only a few months until a new democracy was proclaimed, there was still no chosen candidate.

The task was left in the end to chief negotiator of the African National Congress Cyril Ramaphosa and chief negotiator of the National Party Roelf Meyer.

They adapted the current design of black, gold, green, white, chilli red and blue by Fred Brownell, who also designed the Namibian flag.

By the time the flag was adopted, flag manufacturers had only a frantic week to produce new copies before the new South African democracy was announced on April 27, 1994.

The flag's Y shape symbolised a convergence of the diverse elements of South Africa's society in one united path. The colours are drawn from the flags of the African National Congress, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

South African journalist Rob Beckett described it as "not as a symbol of a political party, nor of a government, but as a possession of the people - the one thing that is literally and figuratively above all else, our flag".

Mr Mongalo said a move to a new, permanent flag was considered the following year.

"But when the time came for a review, nobody wanted it changed. It was beautiful. When a helicopter flew it over the stadium at the [Rugby] World Cup, the cut of it struck you right to the heart.

"We knew we had arrived, and we could say 'It can represent me'."

Yet the transition to the new flag did not occur overnight. Honorary consul to New Zealand Gregory Fortuin said "the old flags still flew at sports matches.

"With all new countries ... it can't just be a cruel, harsh step from this to that.

"People held the old flag dear to their hearts and it took a while to understand something new.

"But the old colours were in the new flag, as the purpose was to be inclusive."