This flag was adopted in 1994 after Nelson Mandela was elected president. It consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, with red on the top and blue on the bottom. A green middle stripe, bordered in white dissects the red and blue stripes and splits into a horizontal Y. On the left side of the flag there is a black isosceles triangle which is outlined in yellow.

Officially, the colours have no meanings attached to them however, the colours black, green and yellow are the colours of Nelson Mandela’s political party, the African National Congress and the former Boer republics flags. In former South African flags the colours are symbolic, red for bloodshed, blue for open blue skies, green for the land, yellow for the natural resources, black for ethnic Africans and white for the European people . The Y shape symbolises the convergence of the country’s diverse people and their desire for unity.