The flag of

Ciskei Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...

consisted of a white diagonal stripe running from the upper-right corner to the lower-left corner, with a blue crane (known as Indwe in the

Xhosa language Xhosa (, ) also isiXhosa as an endonym, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8.2 million people and by another 11 million as a second ...

) in the center, on a sky blue background. The Ciskei flag was officially taken into use on 22 June 1977 when the area became a "self-governing territory" although it had in fact first been hoisted outside the Legislative Assembly building on 15 March 1974. The flag remained unchanged at independence and continued to be used until 27 April 1994 when

was re-incorporated into

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The blue in the flag is said to symbolise the infinity of the sky and the striving for progress and development. The white bar referred to the path which must be followed in order to bring this development to fruition. The blue crane symbolises the desire of the

Xhosa people The Xhosa people, or Xhosa language, Xhosa-speaking people (; ) are African people who are direct kinsmen of Tswana people, Sotho people and Twa people, yet are narrowly sub grouped by European as Nguni people, Nguni ethnic group whose traditi ...

to be courageous and steadfast and to labour with diligence for the future of the country and its people.

References

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