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The South African flag is the only six-coloured national flag in the world. It's also one of the youngest. The national flag was designed by a former South African State Herald, Mr Fred Brownell, and was first used on 27 April 1994. The design and colours are a synopsis of principal elements of the country's flag history. Individual colours, or colour combinations were different meanings for different people and therefore no universal symbolism should be attached to any of the colours. The central design of the flag, beginning at the flagpost in a "V" form and flowing into a single horizontal band to the outer edge of the fly, can be interpreted as the convergence of diverse elements within South African society, taking the road ahead in unity. The theme of convergence and unity ties in with the motto "Unity is Strength" of the previous South African Coat of Arms.
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"I never expected to do something under the colours of my country, to make any kind of public contribution to the achievements of the nation. But now as I looked down at what was for a brief moment the highest flag in the world, I was proud to be South African, and proud to have forged a small place in the history of my country."
(Cathy O'Dowd, member of the first South African Everest expedition and the first woman in the world to climb both sides of Mount Everest) |
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