MOTORISTS driving along the N7 highway in the direction of Malmesbury may be surprised to see the old South African flag up for sale on the road.
An unidentified person is looking to sell the flag for an undisclosed reason and amount of money.
The contentious symbol of apartheid South Africa was the subject of an Equality Court ruling in 2019. The court case was brought to court by the Nelson Mandela Foundation after a 2017 #BlackMonday protest where it was displayed by individuals protesting farm murders.
Judge Phineas Mojapelo then ruled that the gratuitous display of the old South African flag constituted hate speech – but the parameters of a gratuitous display, such as hanging the flag on a fence at the side of the road while trying to sell it – was never defined.
Secretary of the The Southern African Vexillological Association (which studies flags), Bruce Berry, said the sale of the flag is not illegal either. “If no one has complained about it no one is worried about it ... you can go to any militaria dealer in South Africa or a military shop and you will see American flags, the old and new South African flag, old police flags and old army flags for sale, possibly even a Nazi flag.”
“For academic purposes and in a museum and places like that it’s displayed, but if you or anyone else feels offended by seeing the old flag stuck on the road well then, you could be legitimate in your request to say please don’t display it and, if that person didn’t want to accede to your request you could have a case,” Berry added.
In 2017, a group of friends entered a Sea Point pub and took issue with the display of the old South African flag at that venue.
They disagreed with the barman about displaying the flag and it ended in a fracas. The men claimed they were assaulted and police later arrested three of them for being drunk in public.