______________________________________

____________________________________
 The New South Africa

Introduction
Thank you for your interest in this workbook. Whilst we have many
books on aspects of our South African country, cultures, animals, I
decided to create a simple activity book that requires a little research
on information that has never traditionally formed part of our history or
geography (or come to that, social studies) but because of the nature
of our recent history and developments will, in the strict sense of the
words, at some stage, form an important part of the heritage of the
future generations of South Africans.

This book covers the flag, currency, provinces, national anthem and
some of the more familiar aspects of our country, including some of the
leaders.

Please feel free to share this book with your friends, family or class.
Please do not offer it for sale as it is provided free of charge by St
Aiden’s Homeschool in the interests of further education, particularly
Home Education in South Africa. We are all feeling the pinch in our
declining economy and many more families are electing to
Homeschool their children, either willingly or unwilling, generally due to
the exorbitant costs of formal education - and I ask that you make
available this material and any other material you may have
downloaded from my website to those people who are in need of
educational material… I like to call it sharing and I thank you from the
bottom of my heart for making that educational journey just a little
easier for someone less fortunate than ourselves… ☺ My work is original
and traditional copyright laws protect this document.

Right, on to it now… I hope you enjoy the simple exercises. Interaction

between educator/learner is always a fun time and I hope that you will
have fun discussing and interpreting.

Blessings and best wishes

Donnette E Davis

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 The New South Africa

Can you identify the people in the pictures? Write their names in the spaces
provided and try to find out the years in which they were Head of State. Answers at
end of book. ☺

Name:

_______ __________________________

From Year: _______________________

To Year: _________________________

Name:

_______ __________________________

From Year: _______________________

To Year: _________________________

Name:

_______ __________________________

From Year: _______________________

To Year: _________________________

Name:

_______ __________________________

From Year: _______________________

To Year: _________________________

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 The New South Africa

Can you identify the people in the pictures? Write their names in the spaces
provided and try to find out the years in which they were Head of State. Answers at
end of book. ☺

Name:

_______ __________________________

From Year: _______________________

To Year: _________________________

Name:

_______ __________________________

From Year: _______________________

To Year: _________________________

Name:

_______ __________________________

From Year: _______________________

To Year: _________________________

Name:

_______ __________________________

From Year: _______________________

To Year: _________________________

www.staidenshomeschool.com Donnette E Davis © 2008 4

 The New South Africa

This is the new South African Coat

of Arms. Do some research to find
out what the symbols and colours
represent and write your findings
on the lines below.

____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Now draw your own Coat of Arms.

Describe what the symbols and
colours represent.

____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

www.staidenshomeschool.com Donnette E Davis © 2008 5

 The New South Africa

In South Africa the official currency is the Rand. There are smaller
denominations of currency in bronze (brown) and nickel (silver).

This is the largest of the coins in

the South African Currency. The
coin on the left is the “old”
R5coin and the coin on the right
is the “new” R5 coin. The new
coin was designed based on
(and it does really resemble it)
the Euro coin. This would make it
harder to forge R5 coins, which
became a huge problem in
South Africa. Forging money
(counterfeit money) is illegal in
this country and is a major
problem. This is one of the ways
the SA Reserve Bank has tried to
prevent forgery of the R5 coins.

Presently there are five (5) forms

of paper money in South Africa.
The R5 note was discarded in
the mid-90’s to make way for the
R5 coin. (see above) The R1
and R2 notes were discarded
also in the early 90’s to be
replaced by coins.

The five denominations of paper

money presently available in
South Africa are:

R200
R100
R50
R20
R10

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 The New South Africa

This is a picture of a South African R200,00 note. Study the note carefully and
then in the box below design your own R500,00 South African note.

Please describe your R500,00 note, discussing the images, emblems

and colours that you used, and why you used them.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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 The New South Africa

As a fun exercise gather as many different South African coins as you

can. The coins we have (old and new) are as follows:

1 cent
Now take a thin sheet of paper and a sharp pencil and
2 cents place each coin (one at a time) underneath the paper.
5 cents Rub the pencil OVER the paper and the coin and you will
10 cents see the imprint of the coin.
20 cents
If you are lucky enough to have the old and new coins
1 Rand
perhaps you can do the coin rubbing next to one another
2 Rand on the sheet of paper and compare old with new.
5 Rand

Cut around your coins and paste them in the boxes below.

www.staidenshomeschool.com Donnette E Davis © 2008 8

 The New South Africa

Name the 9 Provinces of South Africa and label the capitals of each on
this map. Write the answers on the lines below:

1. _______________________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________________________

4. _______________________________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________________________

6. _______________________________________________________________

7. _______________________________________________________________

8. _______________________________________________________________

9. _______________________________________________________________

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 The New South Africa

Colour the Picture

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 The New South Africa

Nkosi Sikilele’ iAfrika is a prayer for God’s blessing on our land, South
Africa, and all its people. It was composed by Enoch Sontonga, a
teacher, when he was 24 years old. Die Stem, written by C J
Langenhoven, describes our beautiful country. The Anthem is made up
in verses in Xhosa, Zulu, English and Afrikaans, four of the eleven official
languages of South Africa.

Together they form the National Anthem of South Africa.

Search Quest: Read the National Anthem of South Africa and try to
find out the translations either by discussing it with your parents, teacher
or doing an internet search. Discuss what methods you used to find out
the translations i.e. if you searched on the internet what websites did
you visit?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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 The New South Africa

What are some of the words and the meanings that you think most
apply to South Africa?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Answer the following questions. You will find most of the answers in this
book but some will require a little research.

1. Who composed Nkosi Sikileli iAfrica, and in which year?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

2. Who composed Die Stem and in which year was it composed?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

3. In which year was The Anthem changed to include the verses in

Xhosa and Zulu? This will be the year the Anthem was changed
from Die Stem.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. What do you think is the most important message that the
National Anthem of South Africa brings to the people?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

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 The New South Africa

Discuss the meaning of the words of the National Anthem:

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

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 The New South Africa

• Colour the flag.

• Each colour has a message. Write down your message for each
colour.

Black: _________________________________________________________
Gold: _________________________________________________________
Green: _________________________________________________________
White: _________________________________________________________
Red: _________________________________________________________
Blue: _________________________________________________________

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 The New South Africa

1. Red for Bloodshed;

2. Blue for open blue skies;

3. Green for the Land;

4. Black for the black people;

5. White for the white people;

6. Yellow for the natural resources - i.e. Gold;

• The ' Y ' symbolizes the merging nationalities - i.e. Unity -

Convergence and going forward as one unified nation.
• The red, white and blue colours were taken from the colours of
the Boer Republics.
• The yellow, black and green are taken from the African National
Congress (ANC) flag.

Note: The meanings attached to the colours of the SA flag as Outlined

above are NOT official, although they are Accepted as such in some
quarters. The choice in Colours when designing the flag, arose from
their use in the past in flags in this country.

www.staidenshomeschool.com Donnette E Davis © 2008 15

 The New South Africa

You have been asked to design a flag for South Africa. Draw your
design below:

Describe your flag. What designs, emblems and colours have you used
and why have you used them?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

What is the message that you want your flag to portray?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

www.staidenshomeschool.com Donnette E Davis © 2008 16

 The New South Africa

Each Province has its own (old and new) Coat of Arms and its own
Provincial Flag. Below are a selection of Coats of Arms and Flags. Do
some research and see if you can match which Province each belongs
to. Write your answers in the box BELOW the picture. Answers at the
end of the book ☺

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

Are you able to find any other flags or coats of arms that you can cut
out and paste on this page?

www.staidenshomeschool.com Donnette E Davis © 2008 17

 The New South Africa

There are 11 OFFICIAL languages in South Africa, although there are

more than 11 different languages or dialects spoken within the country.

We know English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa to be the most familiar

languages to us, but can you do some research and find out the
names of the other languages or dialects that are spoken? Hint: Each
Province or area has its own special dialect eg. KwaZulu-Natal is known
for Zulu speaking people, while Gauteng Province is known for Xhosa
speaking people – and others of course. ☺ Write the name of the
language and the area or province where it is most likely to be spoken.

www.staidenshomeschool.com Donnette E Davis © 2008 18

 The New South Africa

We would love to hear your comments on this workbook. If you have a

moment please email your comments and suggestions to
feedback@staidenshomeschool.com

Other Volumes In Our Series Of Workbooks

AFRICA
ALPHABET, VOWELS & CONSONANTS
ANIMALS
COLOURS, SHAPES, PUZZLES
DOLCH WORDS
GEOGRAPHY
HISTORY
NATURE
NUMBERS
PHONICS
READING
WORD FAMILIES
WRITING
This unit is provided on a NON-PROFIT basis and in certain circumstances it is provided
free of charge or at extremely low cost covering printing and production costs borne
entirely by the author with no subsidy, donation or educational grants whatsoever in
South Africa or internationally. It may ONLY be sold onward by St Aiden’s
Homeschool, South Africa, and/or by its duly authorised representatives, for personal
and Homeschool/classroom use in the interests of furthering home education in Africa
and internationally. This unit may NOT be sold on under any circumstances by any
unauthorised person or persons/individuals, companies/organisations or educational
institutions, nor may it or any portion thereof be uploaded to any website locally or
internationally. Nor may it be amended, altered, appended to, edited, and may
only be used in its entirety and original format without addition amendment or
omission. Thank you for respecting international copyright laws.

These units have been compiled together with and by my daughters Savannah and
Clarissa, who have had enormous fun doing “dictionary work” and then sourcing
appropriate graphics. A variety of clipart resources have been used, most notably
Microsoft Clipart Collections, Barry’s Clip Art, FG-A, Wikipedia, Wiki-Know,
www.keltawebconcepts.com.au and Free Classroom Clipart. Copyright free images
were also sourced through Google. ☺

Donnette E Davis November 2008

© 2008 St Aiden’s Homeschool, Republic of South Africa
Post Office Box 13720
Cascades
3202
KwaZulu-Natal
Republic of South Africa

www.staidenshomeschool.com Donnette E Davis © 2008 19

 The New South Africa

Answers :

Official Languages: English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, SiSwati, Tsonga,
Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu

Which Flag or Coat of Arms?

1. Eastern Cape 2. Eastern Province 3.Gauteng 4. Northern Cape 5. OFS 6. Western
Province 7. North Western Province 8. Lesotho

Heads of State:
F W De Klerk
Nelson Mandela
Jan Smuts
Hendrik Verwoerd
Pieter W Botha
Thabo Mbeki
Sir Patrick Duncan
James BM Hertzhog 1924 to 1939

www.staidenshomeschool.com Donnette E Davis © 2008 20

Filename: South Africa General Info Workbook
Directory: C:\Documents and Settings\DONNETTE DAVIS\My
Documents\OUR BOOKS\South Africa
Template: C:\Documents and Settings\DONNETTE
DAVIS\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dot
Title: South Africa - General Info Activity Book
Subject: South Africa - General Info Activity Book
Author: DONNETTE E DAVIS
Keywords: South Africa - General Info Activity Book, south
african national anthem, xhosa anthem, zulu anthem, south african map,
south african provinces
Comments: South Africa - General Info Activity Book, basic
workbook requiring a webquest or library search to find answers to simple
but unfamiliar questions. (c) Donnette E Davis 2008/11/04
Creation Date: 11/4/2008 4:07:00 PM
Change Number: 11
Last Saved On: 11/4/2008 9:50:00 PM
Last Saved By: DONNETTE DAVIS
Total Editing Time: 279 Minutes
Last Printed On: 11/4/2008 9:50:00 PM
As of Last Complete Printing
Number of Pages: 20
Number of Words: 2,423 (approx.)
Number of Characters: 13,815 (approx.)