Cape Town – The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture is reportedly set to spend a whopping R22 million on a flag that is more than 100 metres in height.
According to BusinessTech, the department led by Minister Nathi Mthethwa said the gigantic flag will serve as a national landmark and a tourist attraction.
The flag will be fitted at a cost of R17 million, with geotechnical studies valued at R5 million, the report said.
“The flag, as the brand image of the country, needs to be highly recognised by the citizens. Rendering a national flag as a monument of democracy goes a long way in making it highly recognised by the citizens. This has the potential to unite people as it becomes a symbol of unity and common identity,” the report quoted the department as saying in a statement.
The current South African flag was adopted on April 20, 1994, and was designed by Frederick Brownell in 1993 following an international flag conference he had attended in Zurich, reported The Citizen.
“I started thinking about something depicting convergence and unification, something which was in the ideology of what Nelson Mandela was proposing for the country,” Brownell said.
The flag was adopted seven days prior South Africa’s first democratic elections.
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