![[Vryheidsvlag]](../images/z/za_vryh.gif)
image
by Antonio Martins, 02 Mar 1999
Last modified: 2017-11-11 by bruce berry
Keywords: boer | south africa | vryheidsvlag | vierkleur | orania | kp |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
image
by Antonio Martins, 02 Mar 1999
In South Africa there is a political movement (or party) called the "Afrikaner Volksfront" (Popular Front), which aims to set up an independent Boer state. They use a flag very similar to the Transvaal "Vierkleur", but the red stripe is replaced with an orange one. This flag is called "Vryheidsvlag" (freedom flag).
The "Volksrepubliek
Werkgroep" (People's Republic working group) made a proposal for a constitution of
this imagined state. In article 19.16.3 it is written:
Today's freedom flag (green and orange, white, blue) must be used
by the Afrikaner.
I was have also been asked who used
the flag with "a yellow, maybe orange, stripe"?
So it seems that there
are two flags: an older one with a yellow and a newer one with an orange
stripe. Or maybe the orange is because of the former South African national flag?
Carsten Linke, 13 June 1996
As far as I am aware this is new, although the design has been popular
amongst independent-minded Afrikaners for a good while now. The "Vryheidsvlag"
mentioned has been registered with the SA Bureau of Heraldry by the Afrikaner
Volksfront as indicated in SAVA Newsletter 14/95 of December 1995.
Bruce Berry, 14 Jun 1996
Transvaal flag (or Vierkleur) is used by the Afrikaner Volksfront
(Afrikaner People's Movement, AVF) as their
Vryheidsflag (Freedom's
flag), with an orange stripe replacing the red one.
Filip Van Laenen, 3 Oct 1996
The "vierkleur" (four colour) design has also been adopted by the
Boerestaatparty
- another Afrikaner organisation seeking an independent "volkstaat" - with
the vertical stripe in green and the horizontal stripes, black, white and
blue.
Bruce Berry, 14 June 1996
The vierkleur in different coloured variations seems to be indeed
a very popular symbol of Boer movements. There are not many national
flags of this type in the world - I can think only that of the United Arab
Emirates.
Carsten Linke, 14 June 1996
Last night on ABCTV news there was a report on a new attempt by South
African Boers to set up their own homeland (they're seeking $20m from the
UK - as compensation for the Boer War - to fund the project). A flag was
briefly shown - I only caught a glimpse - a red, white and blue horizontal
tricolour; with a vertical green stripe occupying the hoist.
David Cohen, 17 Oct 1997
I'm not a 100% sure, but I believe you might have the proportions of
the Vierkleur and the Vryheidsvlag wrong. Although many people like to
give the vertical bar the same width as that of the horizontal bars, I
believe - in the case of the Vryheidsvlag anyway because I bought one
from Orania) the correct proportions of the vertical bar is one third the
(horizontal) length of the flag, i.e. the same proportion as the width
of a bar in a vertical tricolour flag.
Hanno den Boer, 13 Mar 2002
A flag of the Afrikaner Popular Front / Afrikaner Volksfront was registered
with the South African Bureau of Heraldry on 31 October 1995 and is described as
being:
"A rectangular flag, proportion 2:3, consisting of three
horizontal stripes of equal width, from top to bottom, orange, white
and blue, and at the hoist a vertical green stripe one and one quarter
the width of each of the other three stripes".
Source: Data
of the Bureau of Heraldry on registered heraldic representations.
Mark Sensen, 19 May 2002
A flag for the Vrye Republikeinse Beweging (Free Republican Movement, formerly Afrikaner
Volksfront) was has also been registered with the South African Bureau of Heraldry on 16 May 1997
and is described as:
"A rectangular flag, proportion 2:3, consisting of three
horizontal stripes of equal width, from top to bottom, orange, white and
blue, and at the hoist a vertical green stripe one and one quarter the
width of each of the other three stripes".
Source: Data
of the Bureau of Heraldry on registered heraldic representations.
Mark Sensen, 19 May 2002
I have just visited your web site and would like to correct some of the false statements regarding the
"Vryheidsvlag". I am a founder member of both
the Afrikaner Volksfront and the Vryheidsfront and so can speak with some degree of authority.
1) As far as I am aware, the flag you describe was never the flag of the Afrikaner Volksfront. The AVF used the
Transvaal or Free State
Vierkleur
flags, depending upon in which province they were flown.
2) The translation of Afrikaner Volksfront as "Afrikaner Popular Front" is incorrect. The correct translation is "Afrikaner People's Front".
3) The origin of the flag you show is from the period of the Anglo-Boer War (or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog - Second Freedom
War to many Afrikaners). When the forces of the two
sovereign republics (Transvaal and Orange Free State) fought together, they used this flag.
The orange stripe on top represents the Orange Free State and replaces the
red stripe of the Transvaa and is called the Strydvlag (Struggle Flag). This flag was known as the
Strydvlag until some time after the
foundation of the Vryheidsfront/Freedom Front. The party changed the flag's name to tie in with that of the party.
4) The Afrikaner Volksfront dissolved soon after the 1994 general
election in South Africa.
Jon Phillips, 27 Aug 2003
![[Flag of Orania]](../images/z/za-oran.gif)
image
by Mark Sensen, 20 Oct 1997I think the name Orania is derived from the river Oranje/Orange. The
home page of Orania shows a map. On this map of the Northern Cape Orania is
only one village southwest of where the Orange and Vaal rivers come
together. The homeland they plan for the Afrikaners is between the river Orange
River and the Atlantic Ocean, so part of the Cape, not the Free State or Transvaal.
Their flag is not totally based on that of the old Transvaal as the red is changed to orange for the
Orange Free State. According to Boere Data
the "Vryheidsvlag" or new "Vierkleur" was first hoisted in the night of
26/27 April 1994 (when the apartheid was officially abolished!). It's
not only a combination of the design of the flag of the South African
Republic (Transvaal) with the orange from the flag of Orange Free State but also
incorporates the orange-white-blue of the "Prinzenvlag"
of the "Dietse" ancestors of the Boers and the former flag of South Africa,
but with a green stripe at the hoist.
Mark Sensen, 20 Oct 1997
On the Flags of Aspirant Peoples, published in 1994 by the Flag Society
of Australia and the Flag Research Center, is the flag of "Orandia (White
homeland) - South Africa." It has vertical orange-white-blue
stripes with an emblem in the white stripe which is green ground plan of the Castle of Good Hope, outlined in grey,
and including a monument (?) on a light blue background enclosed in a white-black
hatched circle. The chart effectively shows a small black stripe at the
hoist.
Ivan Sache, 12 Sep 1999
The following description and background is from SAVA Newsletter 2/91
which carried an article and illustration of this flag.
The flag originated in the early 1990s when the "Orandia Development
Corporation" was established with the express purpose of establishing a
"white homeland" to be called Orandia in the western part of South Africa.
The town of Orania was purchased and was to be the centre of this activity.
The flag is based on the former flag of South Africa, having vertical instead
of horizontal stripes. The orange stripe represents the freedom struggle
of the people of Orandia with the white stripe standing for cleanliness
of thought, conduct and purpose. The castle outline in the centre indicates
the origin of the "white" nation in South Africa with the landing of Dutch
settlers in the Cape in 1652, with the surrounding protecting wall symbolising
the protection of the nation's seed. The castle' inner 'face' is green
to suggest life from the soil, on which the nation will multiply.
Inside the castle a closed wagon laager encircles a stylised Voortrekker
Monument (in Pretoria) symbolising the protection given to Orandia as the Nation of the
Vow. The monument serves as a reminder of the slaughter that took place
at the Battle of Blood River and of the sacrifices and perseverance of
the predecessor of Orandia. The blue stripe shows the European origins
of the forefathers of the people of Orandia and symbolises humanity and
faith. The black sleeve nearest the hoist shows that Orandians are prepared
to live peaceably the people of other races and that good neighbourliness
and trade should prevail.
Bruce Berry, 10 Dec 2001
