The Flag of the National Party (

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

: ''Vlag van die Nasionale Party'') was the flag of the ruling National Party, of

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

during

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. The design was a blue hunting horn on an orange background. The flag was created in 1939 and abandoned in 1993.

History

The National Party had no flag for its first twenty-five years. However, following D. F. Malan breaking away from the party to keep the National Party from a merger with the

South African Party nl, Zuidafrikaanse Partij , leader1_title = Leader (s) , leader1_name = Louis Botha,Jan Smuts, Barry Hertzog , foundation = , dissolution = , merger = Het Volk South African PartyAfrikaner BondOrangia Unie , merged ...

into the United Party in 1934, it was decided in 1935 they needed a flag with the Junior National Party Conference deciding it must include orange as the party's official colour. The

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

National Party Congress suggested a gunpowder horn on an orange background and it was adopted in 1939. The horn (known as the kruithoring) came from the

coat of arms of the Orange Free State The coat of arms of the Orange Free State was the official heraldic symbol of the Orange Free State as a republic from 1857 to 1902, and later, from 1937 to 1994, as a province of South Africa. It is now obsolete. History The Orange Free State w ...

and was symbolic of the

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...

Great Trek The Great Trek ( af, Die Groot Trek; nl, De Grote Trek) was a Northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyon ...

The flag was the main symbol of the party until the 1980s when a new logo was adopted for the 1981 South African general election. The flag was last used by the party during the

1989 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa on 6 September 1989, the last under apartheid. Snap elections had been called early (no election was required until 1992) by the recently elected head of the National Party (NP), F. W. de Klerk, who ...

. With the end of apartheid and the National Party opening up membership to non-

Afrikaners Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cas ...

, a new flag and logo were adopted in 1993. However, the former flag retained popularity amongst hardcore National Party supporters in the run up to the

1994 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa between 26 and 29 April 1994. The elections were the first in which citizens of all races were allowed to take part, and were therefore also the first held with universal suffrage. The election was c ...

. When

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

leader Nelson Mandela visited Tafelsig on an election drive, five National Party supporters waved the flag at him. Mandela responded: "What a pity there are those who are raising the flag of the National Party... They are not sober. They only have the courage to hoist the NP flag because they are not sober."

References

{{Reflist Political flags National Party (South Africa) 1939 establishments in South Africa 1993 disestablishments in South Africa Afrikaner nationalism Flags introduced in 1939