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. It does not store any personal data.This article is about the flag from 1928 to 1994. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Performance'. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Necessary'. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Functional'. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Analytics'. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly.

Black and white union jack flag