Saturday 21 March 2015 marks 25 years since Namibia gained its independence from South Africa and officially adopted its national flag.
Chosen from 835 publicly submitted designs, its origins lie in the flags of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) and the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA).
Naturally, each of its colour represents an aspect key to the Namibian people.
The red band represents the Namibian people, their heroism and their determination to build equal opportunities for all.
The flanking white stripes refer to peace, while the green represents Namibia’s vegetation and agriculture.
The blue symbolises the sky, the Atlantic Ocean, Namibia’s water resources and rain.
Within the blue segment lies a 12-pointed star (the Sun) signifying energy and life.
All descriptions were made public by the Chairman of the National Symbols Sub-committee on 2 February 1990.
The blue, red and green of the SWAPO flag are the colours most important to the Ovambo – Namibia’s largest ethnic group.
Bonus fact: Namibia was previously known as German South-West Africa from 1884 to 1915.
After the South-West Africa Campaign of WWI until independence, it came under South African control as South-West Africa.
The DTA logo gave Namibia’s flag its diagonal band
Alex Crouch is a 2014 journalism graduate from Southampton Solent University. He has followed Formula One since his pre-school days. He was a Games Maker during the London Paralympics and saw Pink Floyd reunite for one song at The O2 in London. Links: Twitter, blog, YouTube. Alex is an accredited Flag Institute journalist.
