Official Language and Symbol – 1993

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Official Language and Symbol – 1993

1993

Intermediate Implementation Intermediate implementation

Choosing a new flag was part of the negotiation process set into motion when Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990.1 Nothing happened in terms of its design in 1991/1992.

The language debate continued with ANC in favor of abolishing a single official language. The ANC’s position was that the ” practical functioning of state administration requires the existence of English and Afrikaans as national official languages.”2

The National Symbole Commission received more than 7,000 different designs when a national completion was held in 1993. Six designs were chosen but none draw enthusiastic support.3

On November 18, 1993, a consensus was rapidly reached that South Africa will have 11 different languages. The importance of the decision was that South Africans will not be forced, if they so choose, to speak any language other than the one that they learned at home.4

  1. “Fly, the beloved flag,” accessed December 9, 2010, http://www.southafrica.info/about/history/flag.htm.
  2. “SOUTH AFRICA IN BRIEF; Government opposes ANC plans to abolish official languages,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, February 19, 1992.
  3. “Fly, the beloved flag,” accessed December 9, 2010, http://www.southafrica.info/about/history/flag.htm.
  4. “South Africa: Language deals create new Babel; Blacks and women prepare for the dawn of democracy and a fairer society,” The Independent (London), November 18, 1993, p. 15.