The flag of South Africa was designed in March 1994 and adopted on 27 April 1994, during South Africa's 1994 general election, to replace the flag that had been used since 1928.
The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country.
1994 in South Africa saw the transition from South Africa's National Party government who had ruled the country since 1948 and had advocated the apartheid system for most of its history, to the African National Congress (ANC) who had been outlawed in South Africa since the 1950s for its opposition to apartheid. The ANC won a majority in the first multiracial election held under universal suffrage. Previously, only white people were allowed to vote. There were some incidents of violence in the Bantustans leading up to the elections as some leaders of the Bantusans opposed participation in the elections, while other citizens wanted to vote and become part of South Africa. There were also bombings aimed at both the African National Congress and the National Party and politically-motivated murders of leaders of the opposing ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
The South African Defence Force (SADF) comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Force was officially succeeded by the SADF, which was established by the Defence Act of 1957. The SADF, in turn, was superseded by the South African National Defence Force in 1994.
General Constand Laubscher Viljoen was a South African military commander and politician. He co-founded the Afrikaner Volksfront and later founded the Freedom Front. He is partly credited with having prevented the outbreak of armed violence by disaffected white South Africans prior to post-apartheid general elections.
Johannes "Joe" Modise was a South African political figure. He helped to found uMkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress, and was its longest serving Commander in Chief, deputised at different points in time by Joe Slovo and Chris Hani. Modise headed MK for a 25-year period, from 1965 to 1990. He served as South Africa's first black Minister of Defence from 1994 to 1999 and led the formation of the post-independence defence force.
The Honoris Crux Gold, post-nominal letters HCG, is a South African military decoration for bravery which was instituted in 1975. It was awarded to members of the South African Defence Force for outstanding acts of bravery while in extreme danger. It was the second most senior in a set of four classes of Honoris Crux decorations which replaced the discontinued Honoris Crux of 1952.
Operation Marion was a domestic military operation fielded by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the 1980s. Afrikaner security was deemed to be closely linked to Zulu security.
The Ciskei Defence Force (CDF) was established during March 1981 from the 141 Battalion of the South African Defence Force (SADF). It was the defence force of Ciskei, a bantustan that was controlled by the apartheid regime of South Africa. The CDF functioned as part of the 21 Battalion based near Lenasia, outside Johannesburg.
Relations between Angola and South Africa in the post-apartheid era are quite strong as the ruling parties in both states, the African National Congress in South Africa and the MPLA in Angola, fought together during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War. They fought against UNITA rebels, based in Angola, and the apartheid-era government in South Africa which supported them. Nelson Mandela mediated between the MPLA and UNITA during the final years of the Angolan Civil War. Although South Africa was preponderant in terms of relative capabilities during the late twentieth century, the recent growth of Angola has led to a more balanced relation.
The Raid on Gaborone took place on 14 June 1985 when South African Defence Force troops, under the order of General Constand Viljoen, crossed into Botswana violating International Law and attacked South African émigrés living in exile in Gaborone. The raid, the fifth South African attack on a neighbouring country since 1981, killed 12 people including women and children; only five of the victims were actual members of the African National Congress (ANC), at the time the main opposition group against the National Party white supremacist minority regime.
The Star of South Africa, Gold, post-nominal letters SSA, is the senior decoration of two military and five non-military classes of the Order of the Star of South Africa, a South African Order which was instituted in 1975, for award to general and flag officers of the South African Defence Force. The Order of the Star of South Africa was discontinued in 2002.
Lieutenant-General Pierre Derksen Steyn is a retired South African Air Force officer who served as Secretary for Defence from 1994 to 1998, and as Chief of Defence Force Staff from 1990 to 1993. He is also known as the chair of the Steyn Commission, which from 1992 to 1993 investigated allegations of criminal and third force activity by the apartheid-era South African Defence Force.
The flag of South Africa from 1928 to 1994 was the flag of the Union of South Africa from 1928 to 1961 and the flag of the Republic of South Africa to 1994. It was also the flag of South West Africa to 1990, when that territory was under South African administration. 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. A nickname for the flag was Oranje, Blanje, Blou.
The first coat of arms of South Africa was granted to the Union of South Africa by King George V and later amended by the British College of Arms. It contained representation of the four provinces within the Union. The coat of arms was later retained by the Republic of South Africa for a period until after the end of apartheid in 2000. The 1910 coat of arms was replaced in 2000 by the current coat of arms of South Africa.
The Southern African Vexillological Association (SAVA) was formed in November 1990 to promote vexillology in Southern Africa. Members of the association are drawn mainly from flag manufacturers, collectors, military historians and generally anyone with an interest in flags. SAVA became a member of the International Federation of Vexillological Associations (FIAV) at the 14th International Congress of Vexillology held in Barcelona in 1991 and was the host of the 17th International Congress of Vexillology which was held in Cape Town in August 1997.
Chris Hani, General-Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), was assassinated by right-wing extremist Janusz Waluś on 10 April 1993. The assassination, later tied to members within the Conservative Party, occurred outside Hani's home in Dawn Park during a peak period of progressive anti-apartheid momentum in South Africa. After the assassination, racially fuelled riots drew international attention to the instability of the political division within South Africa, leading to an inclusive national democratic election in April 1994, won by the African National Congress (ANC). Assassin Janusz Waluś and accomplice Clive Derby-Lewis were sentenced to death after their arrest in 1993, however this sentencing was later commuted to life imprisonment.
The South African Naval Ensign is a naval ensign used by ships of the South African Navy. A variant of the White Ensign, it features a green St George's Cross with the South African flag in the canton. South Africa has since 1922 had a variety of naval ensigns which have evolved into the current ensign adopted in 1994.
Annelizé van Wyk is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2014, excepting a brief hiatus in 2009. She represented the United Democratic Movement (UDM) until April 2003, when she crossed the floor to the African National Congress (ANC). She chaired the Portfolio Committee on Police from 2012 to 2014.
