History Of Money In South Africa From 1782 To 2011

Official currency of South Africa

South African rand
List 10 other official names: Suid-Afrikaanse rand (Afrikaans) iRanti yeSewula Afrika (Southern Ndebele) iRanti yoMzantsi Afrika (Xhosa) iRandi laseNingizimu Afrika (Zulu) liRandi laseNingizimu Afrika (Swazi) Ranta ya Afrika-Borwa (Northern Sotho) Ranta ya Afrika Borwa (Sotho) Ranta ya Aforika Borwa (Tswana) Rhandi ya Afrika-Dzonga (Tsonga) Rannda ya Afurika Tshipembe (Venda)
ISO 4217
Code	ZAR
Number	710
Exponent	2
Denominations
Subunit
1/100	Cent
Plural	rand
Symbol	R
Cent	c
Banknotes	R 10, R 20, R 50, R 100, R 200
Coins	10c, 20c, 50c, R 1, R 2, R 5, Krugerrand
Demographics
Official user(s)	South Africa ^[a] Namibia ^[b] Lesotho ^[c] Eswatini^[d]
Unofficial user(s)	Angola Malawi Zambia Zimbabwe ^[e]
Issuance
Central bank	South African Reserve Bank
Website	www.resbank.co.za
Printer	South African Bank Note Company
Mint	South African Mint
Website	www.samint.co.za
Valuation
Inflation	4.1% (South Africa only)
Source	South African Reserve Bank, March 2020
Method	CPI
Pegged by	Namibian dollar Lesotho loti Swazi lilangeni (at par)
^ A Common Monetary Area member. ^ A Common Monetary Area member, used alongside Namibian dollar ^ A Common Monetary Area member, used alongside Lesotho loti ^ A Common Monetary Area member, used alongside Swazi lilangeni ^ Alongside Zimbabwean dollar (suspended indefinitely from 12 April 2009), euro, US dollar, pound sterling, Botswana pula, Indian rupee, Australian dollar, Chinese yuan, and Japanese yen. The US dollar has been adopted as the official currency for all government transactions.

The rand (sign: R; code: ZAR ^[a]) is the official currency of South Africa. It is subdivided into 100 cents (sign: "c").

The South African rand is also legal tender in the Common Monetary Area member states of Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini. Although these three countries each have their own national currency (the dollar, the loti and the lilangeni respectively), all three have been pegged with the rand at par since their introductions, and the rand is still widely accepted as a substitute for them. The rand was also legal tender in Botswana until 1976, when the pula replaced the rand at par.

Etymology [edit]

The rand takes its name from the Witwatersrand ("white waters' ridge" in English, rand being the Dutch and Afrikaans word for 'ridge'), the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found.

History [edit]

The rand was introduced in the Union of South Africa on 14 February 1961, three months before the country declared itself a republic.^[1] A Decimal Coinage Commission had been set up in 1956 to consider a move away from the denominations of pounds, shillings, and pence; it submitted its recommendations on 8 August 1958.^[2] It replaced the South African pound as legal tender, at the rate of 2 rand to 1 pound, or 10 shillings to the rand. The government introduced a mascot, Decimal Dan, "the rand-cent man" (known in Afrikaans as Daan Desimaal).^[3] This was accompanied by a radio jingle, to inform the public about the new currency.^[4] Although pronounced in the Afrikaans style as in the jingles when introduced,^[5] the contemporary pronunciation in South African English is .^[6]

Brief exchange rate history [edit]

1971–2000 [edit]

Value of the South African rand to the United States dollar from 1975-2015 by the blue columns: The percentage rate of change year-on-year is shown by the black line.^[7]

One rand was worth US$1.40 (R 0.72 per dollar) from the time of its inception in 1961 until late 1971, and the U.S. dollar became stronger than South African currency for the first time on 15 March 1982.^[8] Its value thereafter fluctuated as various exchange rate dispensations^{[ clarification needed ]} were implemented by the South African authorities. By the early 1980s, high inflation and mounting political pressure combined with sanctions placed against the country due to international opposition to the apartheid system had started to erode its value. The currency broke above parity with the dollar for the first time in March 1982, and continued to trade between R 1 and R 1.30 to the dollar until June 1984, when depreciation of the currency gained momentum. By February 1985, it was trading at over R 2 per dollar, and in July that year, all foreign exchange trading was suspended for three days to try to stop the depreciation.

By the time that State President P. W. Botha made his Rubicon speech on 15 August 1985, it had weakened to R 2.40 per dollar. The currency recovered somewhat between 1986–88, trading near the R 2 level most of the time and even breaking beneath it sporadically. The recovery was short-lived, however, and by the end of 1989, the rand was trading at more than R 2.50 per dollar.

As it became clear in the early 1990s that the country was destined for Black majority rule and one reform after the other was announced, uncertainty about the future of the country hastened the depreciation until the level of R 3 to the dollar was breached in November 1992. A host of local and international events influenced the currency after that, most notably the 1994 general election, which had it weaken to over R 3.60 to the dollar, the election of Tito Mboweni as the governor of the South African Reserve Bank, and the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki in 1999, which had it quickly slide to over R 6 to the dollar. The controversial land reform programme that was initiated in Zimbabwe, followed by the September 11, 2001 attacks, propelled it to its weakest historical level of R 13.84 to the dollar in December 2001.

2001–2011 [edit]

Two generations of older notes and coins: The notes of the latter of these two generations (as depicted by the R 5 note in this image) were replaced with the iconic "Big Five" notes and these were recently updated to show the face of Nelson Mandela.

Banknotes and coins of the South African rand's fourth series (2005–2012). Set of ZAR notes 2012 to present tax collection ZAR:6,100,000,000,000

This sudden depreciation in 2001 led to a formal investigation, which in turn led to a dramatic recovery. By the end of 2002, the currency was trading under R 9 to the dollar again, and by the end of 2004 was trading under R 5.70 to the dollar. The currency softened somewhat in 2005, and was trading around R 6.35 to the dollar at the end of the year. At the start of 2006, however, the currency resumed its rally, and as of 19 January 2006, was trading under R 6 to the dollar again. However, during the second and third quarters of 2006 (i.e. April through September), the rand weakened significantly.

In sterling terms, it fell from around 9.5% to just over 7%, losing some 25% of its international trade-weighted value in just six months. In late 2007, the rand rallied modestly to just over 8%, only to experience a precipitous slide during the first quarter of 2008.

This downward slide could be attributed to a range of factors: South Africa's worsening current account deficit, which widened to a 36‑year high of 7.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007; inflation at a five-year high of just under 9%; escalating global risk aversion as investors' concerns over the spreading impact of the sub-prime crisis grew; and a general flight to "safe havens", away from the perceived risks of emerging markets. The rand depreciation was exacerbated by the Eskom electricity crisis, which arose from the utility being unable to meet the country's rapidly growing energy demands.

SARB Set of ZAR notes 2012 to present R 104 000 000 000.00 and Set of ZAR notes 2018 to present 400 000 000 print.

2012–present [edit]

A stalled mining industry in late 2012 led to new lows in early 2013.^[9] In late January 2014, the rand slid to R 11.25 to the dollar, with analysts attributing the shift to "word from the US Federal Reserve that it would trim back stimulus spending, which led to a massive sell-off in emerging economies."^[10] In 2014, South Africa experienced its worst year against the US dollar since 2009,^[11] and in March 2015, the rand traded at its worst since 2002.^[11] At the time, Trading Economics released data that the rand "averaged R4.97 to the dollar between 1972–2015, reaching an all time high of R12.45 in December 2001 and a record low of R0.67 in June of 1973."^[11] By the end of 2014, the rand had weakened to R 15.05 per dollar, partly due to South Africa's consistent trade account deficit with the rest of the world.

From 9–13 December 2015, over a four-day period, the rand dropped over 10% due to what some suspected was President Zuma's surprise announcement that he would be replacing the Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with the little-known David van Rooyen. The rapid drop in value was stemmed when Zuma backtracked and announced that the better-known previous Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, would instead be appointed to the post. Zuma's surprise sacking of Nene damaged international confidence in the rand, and the exchange rate was volatile throughout much of January 2016, and reached an all-time low of R 17.9169 to the US dollar on 9 January 2016 before rebounding to R 16.57 later the same day.^[12]

The January drop in value was also partly caused by Japanese retail investors cutting their losses in the currency to look for higher-yield investments elsewhere and due to concerns over the impact of the economic slowdown in China, South Africa's largest export market.^[13] By mid-January, economists were speculating that the rand could expect to see further volatility for the rest of 2016.^[14] ^[15] By 29 April, it reached its highest performance over the previous five months, exchanging at a rate of 14.16 to the United States dollar.^[16]

Following the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union, the rand dropped in value over 8% against the US$ on 24 June 2016, the currency's largest single-day decline since the 2008 economic crash.^[17] This was partly due to a general global financial retreat from currencies seen as risky to the US dollar^[18] and partly due to concerns over how British withdrawal from the EU would impact the South African economy and trade relations.^[17] ^[19]

In April 2017, a Reuters poll estimated that the rand would remain relatively stable for the rest of the year, as two polls found that analysts had already factored in a possible downgrade to "junk" status. At the time, Moody's rated South Africa two notches above junk status.^[20] When President Jacob Zuma narrowly won a motion of no confidence in South Africa in August 2017, the rand continued to slide, dropping 1.7% that day.^[21] In September 2017, Goldman Sachs said that the debt and corruption of Eskom Holdings was the biggest risk to South Africa's economy and the exchange rate of the rand. At the time, it had no permanent CEO, and Colin Coleman of Goldman Sachs in Africa said the company was "having discussions on solutions" on finding credible management.^[22] In October 2017, the rand firmed against the US dollar as it recovered from a six-month low. Reuters noted that "South Africa is highly susceptible to global investor sentiment as the country relies on foreign money to cover its large budget and current account deficits."^[23] On 13 November 2017, the rand fell by over 1% when the budget chief Michael Sachs stood down from his position in Zuma's administration.^[24]

Coins [edit]

A 5-rand bimetallic coin issued in 2004

Coins were introduced in 1961 in denominations of 1⁄2 , 1, 2+ 1⁄2 , 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents. In 1965, 2-cent coins replaced the 2+ 1⁄2 -cent coins. The 1⁄2 -cent coin was last struck for circulation in 1973. The 1-rand coin for circulation was introduced in 1967, followed by 2-rand coins in 1989 and 5-rand coins in 1994. Production of the 1- and 2-cent coins was discontinued in 2002, followed by 5-cent coins in 2012, primarily due to inflation having devalued them, but they remain legal tender.^[25] ^[26] ^[27] ^[28] Shops normally round the total purchase price of goods to the nearest 10 cents (in favour of the consumer).

In an effort to curb counterfeiting, a new 5-rand coin was released in August 2004. Security features introduced on the coin include a bimetal design (similar to the €1 and €2 coins, the Thai ฿10 coin, the Philippine ₱10 coin [the coin was changed the composition to nickel-plated steel in 2018], the British £2 coin, and the Canadian $2 coin), a specially serrated security groove along the rim and microlettering.^[29]

Banknotes [edit]

The first series of rand banknotes was introduced in 1961 in denominations of 1-, 2-, 10-, and 20-rand, with similar designs and colours to the preceding pound notes to ease the transition. They bore the image of what was believed at the time to be Jan van Riebeeck, the first V.O.C. administrator of Cape Town. It was later discovered that the image was not in fact Van Riebeeck at all, a portrait of Bartholomeus Vermuyden had been mistaken for Van Riebeeck.^[30] Like the last pound notes, they were printed in two variants, one with English written first and the other with Afrikaans written first.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 1966, a second series was released with designs which moved away from the previous pound notes. Notes with denominations of 1-, 5- and 10-rand were produced with predominantly one colour per note. A smaller 1-rand note with the same design was introduced in 1973 and a 2-rand note was introduced in 1974. The 20-rand denomination from the first series was dropped. All notes bore the image of Jan van Riebeeck. The practice of having an English and an Afrikaans version of each note was continued in this series.^{[ citation needed ]}

The 1978 series began with denominations of 2-, 5-, 10- and 20-rand, with a 50-rand introduced in 1984. This series had only one language variant for each denomination of note. Afrikaans was the first language on the 2-, 10-, and 50-rand, while English was the first language on the 5- and 20-rand. The 1-rand note was replaced by a coin.

South African ATM showing R 50 and R 100 banknotes.

In the 1990s, the notes were redesigned with images of the Big Five wildlife species. 10-, 20- and 50-rand notes were introduced in 1992 & 1993, retaining the colour scheme of the previous issue. Coins were introduced for the 2- and 5-rand, replacing the notes of the previous series, mainly because of the severe wear and tear experienced with low-denomination notes in circulation. In 1994, 100- and 200-rand notes were introduced.^{[ citation needed ]}

The 2005 series has the same principal design, but with additional security features such as colour-shifting ink on the 50-rand and higher and the EURion constellation. The obverses of all denominations were printed in English, while two other official languages were printed on the reverse, thus making use of all 11 official languages of South Africa.

In 2010, the South African Reserve Bank and commercial banks withdrew all 1994 series 200-rand banknotes due to relatively high-quality counterfeit notes in circulation.^[31]

In 2011, the South African Reserve Bank issued 100-rand banknotes which were defective because they lacked fluorescent printing visible under UV light. In June, printing of this denomination was moved from the South African Bank Note Company to Crane Currency's Swedish division (Tumba Bruk), which reportedly produced 80 million 100-rand notes.^[32] The South African Reserve Bank shredded 3.6 million 100-rand banknotes printed by Crane Currency because they had the same serial numbers as a batch printed by the South African Bank Note Company. In addition, the notes printed in Sweden were not the correct colour, and they were 1 mm short.^[33]

On 11 February 2012, President Jacob Zuma announced that the country would be issuing a new set of banknotes bearing Nelson Mandela's image.^[34] ^[35] They were entered into circulation on 6 November 2012.^[36] These contained the same denominations of 10-, 20-, 50-, 100- and 200-rand.

In 2013, the 2012 series was updated with the addition of the EURion constellation to all five denominations.^[37]

On 18 July 2018, a special commemorative series of banknotes was released in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's birth. This series includes notes of all denominations, 10-, 20-, 50-, 100- and 200-rand. These notes will circulate alongside the existing notes.^[38] The notes depict the standard face of Nelson Mandela on the obverse, but instead of the Big Five animals on the reverse, they show a younger Mandela with different iconic scenes relating to his legacy. These scenes comprise: the rolling hills of the Eastern Cape, featuring Mandela's humble birthplace of Mvezo (10-rand); the home of Mandela in Soweto, where he defined his political life alongside other struggle icons (20-rand); the site where Mandela was captured near Howick, following 17 months in hiding, where a monument to him has been erected (50-rand); the place of Mandela's 27-year imprisonment at Robben Island, showing a pile of quarried limestone (100-rand); the statue of Mandela at the Union Buildings in remembrance of when he was inaugurated there in 1994 (200-rand).^[39] ^[40] ^[41]

First series [edit]

Banknotes of the South African rand (1961 First Issue)^[42]
Image	Value	Obverse	Reverse	Colour	Language	Size (mm)
[1]	1 rand	Jan van Riebeeck	Lion from coat of arms	Brown	Afrikaans/English, English/Afrikaans	136×78
[2]	2 rand		Lion from coat of arms	Blue	Afrikaans/English, English/Afrikaans	149×84
[3]	10 rand		Jan van Riebeeck's sailing ship	Green	Afrikaans/English, English/Afrikaans	170×96
[4]	20 rand		Gold mine	Purple	Afrikaans/English, English/Afrikaans	176×103

Second series [edit]

Banknotes of the South African rand (1966 Second Issue)^[42]
Image	Value	Obverse	Reverse	Colour	Language	Size (mm)
[5]	1 rand	Jan van Riebeeck and protea	Farming and agriculture	Brown	Afrikaans/English, English/Afrikaans	128×64
	1 rand	Jan van Riebeeck and protea	Farming and agriculture	Brown	Afrikaans/English, English/Afrikaans	120×57
	2 rand	Jan van Riebeeck, Cape Dutch architecture and vines	Gariep Dam, pylon and maize cob	Blue	Afrikaans/English, English/Afrikaans	127×63
[6]	5 rand	Jan van Riebeeck, Voortrekker Monument and Great Trek	Mining	Purple	Afrikaans/English, English/Afrikaans	134×70
[7]	10 rand	Jan van Riebeeck, Union Buildings and springbok	Jan van Riebeeck's three ships	Green	Afrikaans/English, English/Afrikaans	140×76

Third series [edit]

Banknotes of the South African rand (1978 Third Issue)^[42]
Image	Value	Obverse	Reverse	Colour	Language	Size (mm)
[8]	2 rand	Jan van Riebeeck and pylon	Sasol coal to oil refinery	Blue	Afrikaans and English	120×57
[9]	5 rand	Jan van Riebeeck and diamonds	Mining and Johannesburg city centre	Purple	English and Afrikaans	127×63
[10]	10 rand	Jan van Riebeeck and protea	Agriculture	Green	Afrikaans and English	133×70
[11]	20 rand	Jan van Riebeeck, Cape Dutch architecture and vines	Jan van Riebeeck's three ships and Coat of Arms of South Africa	Brown	English and Afrikaans	140×77
[12]	50 rand	Jan van Riebeeck and lion	Fauna and flora	Red	Afrikaans and English	147×83

Fourth series [edit]

Banknotes of the South African rand (1992 Fourth Issue "Big Five")^[42] ^[43]
Image	Value	Obverse	Reverse	Colour	Language	Size (mm)
[13]	10 rand	Rhinoceros	Agriculture	Green	Afrikaans and English	128×70
[14]	20 rand	Elephants	Mining	Brown	English and Afrikaans	134×70
[15]	50 rand	Lions	Manufacturing	Red	Afrikaans and English	140×70
[16]	100 rand	Cape buffaloes	Tourism	Blue	English and Afrikaans	146×70
[17]	200 rand	Leopards	Transport and communication	Orange	Afrikaans and English	152×70

Fifth series [edit]

Banknotes of the South African rand (2005 Fifth Issue "English & Other Official Languages")^[42]
Image	Value	Obverse	Reverse	Colour	Language	Size (mm)
[18]	10 rand	Rhinoceros	Agriculture	Green	English, Afrikaans, Swati	128×70
[19]	20 rand	Elephants	Mining	Brown	English, Southern Ndebele, Tswana	134×70
[20]	50 rand	Lions	Manufacturing	Red	English, Venda, Xhosa	140×70
[21]	100 rand	Cape buffaloes	Tourism	Blue	English, Northern Sotho, Tsonga	146×70
[22]	200 rand	Leopards	Transport and communication	Orange	English, Sotho, Zulu	152×70

Sixth series [edit]

Banknotes of the South African rand (2012 Sixth Issue "Nelson Mandela")^[42]
Image	Value	Obverse	Reverse	Colour	Language	Size (mm)
[23]	10 rand	Nelson Mandela	Rhinoceros	Green	English, Afrikaans, Swati	128×70
[24]	20 rand		Elephant	Brown	English, Southern Ndebele, Tswana	134×70
[25]	50 rand		Lion	Red	English, Venda, Xhosa	140×70
[26]	100 rand		Cape buffalo	Blue	English, Northern Sotho, Tsonga	146×70
[27]	200 rand		Leopard	Orange	English, Sotho, Zulu	152×70

Seventh series [edit]

Banknotes of the South African rand (2018 Seventh Issue "Mandela Centenary")
Image	Value	Obverse	Reverse	Colour	Language	Size (mm)
[28]	10 rand	Nelson Mandela	Young Mandela and his birthplace of Mvezo	Green	English, Afrikaans, Swati	128×70
[29]	20 rand		Young Mandela and his home in Soweto	Brown	English, Southern Ndebele, Tswana	134×70
[30]	50 rand		Young Mandela and the site of his capture near Howick	Red	English, Venda, Xhosa	140×70
[31]	100 rand		Young Mandela and his place of imprisonment at Robben Island	Blue	English, Northern Sotho, Tsonga	146×70
[32]	200 rand		Young Mandela and his statue at the Union Buildings	Orange	English, Sotho, Zulu	152×70

Current ZAR exchange rates
From Google Finance:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR USD JPY
From Yahoo! Finance:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR USD JPY
From XE.com:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR USD JPY
From OANDA:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR USD JPY
From fxtop.com:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR USD JPY

Note [edit]

^ From Zuid-Afrikaanse rand ("South African rand"); the ZA is a historical relic from Dutch, used because "SA" is allocated to Saudi Arabia.

References [edit]

^ "From Van Riebeeck to Madiba". News24. 12 September 2012.
^ "The Reserve Bank and the Rand: Some historic reflections". Resbank.co.za. 29 November 2001. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
^ A General's Story: from an Era of War and Peace, Jannie Geldenhuys, Jonathan Ball, 1995, page 32
^ "'Decimal Dan' Sings: Catchy Tune Teaches New Currency". The Spokesman-Review. 10 January 1961. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
^ Video on YouTube
^ Elwyn Jenkins (2007). Falling Into Place: The Story of Modern South African Place Names. New Africa Books. pp. 23–. ISBN978-0-86486-689-9.
^ "Exchange Rates Between the UniteDDV South African rand". Measuring Worth. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
^ "U.S. Dollar to South African Rand Spot Exchange Rates for 1975 to 2020 from the Bank of England". www.poundsterlinglive.com . Retrieved 21 March 2020.
^ "Rand vs the dollar in 2013". Business Technology. 2 January 2014.
^ "Rand vs the dollar in 2014". Business Technology. 17 December 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c "A Rand value: 1994 – 2015". Business Technology. 12 March 2015.
^ Paul Vecchiatto Michael Cohen (11 January 2016). "Zuma Begins Fightback as South Africa's Rand Gets Hammered". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
^ Patrick McGroarty & Joe Parkinson (11 January 2016). "Africa Hit by China's Woes". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
^ Candice Zachariahs (11 January 2016). "Why the rand will face more manic Mondays after plunging 9%". Fin24. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
^ Candice Zachariahs (11 January 2016). "Rand sinks most in 7 years as traders fret over China, liquidity". Fin24. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
^ http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4836251&Itemid=15
^ ^a ^b "Rand slumps more than 8% against dollar | IOL". Retrieved 25 June 2016.
^ "Brexit vote shocker sends global markets into tailspin". Retrieved 25 June 2016.
^ Kuo, Lily. "Brexit will be terrible for Africa's largest economies". Retrieved 25 June 2016.
^ "South Africa's rand expected to stabilize for rest of year: Reuters poll". Reuters. 6 April 2017.
^ "South African rand continues to fall after Zuma vote". Financial Times. 9 August 2017.
^ "Goldman Sees Eskom as Biggest Risk to South African Economy". Bloomberg. 22 September 2017.
^ "South Africa's rand recovers after hitting 6-month low". Reuters. 9 October 2017.
^ "South African rand continues to fall after Zuma vote". Financial Times. 13 November 2017.
^ "One Cent (1c)". South African Mint. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
^ "Two Cent (2c)". South African Mint. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
^ "5 cent coin to be discontinued". South African Government Information. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
^ "South African currency". South African Reserve Bank. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
^ "South Africa's new R5 coin". SouthAfrica.info. 28 July 2004.
^ "So whose face was on old SA money?". IOL. 8 January 2015.
^ "Statement issued by the SARB Governor, Ms G Marcus on counterfeit notes in circulation". South African Reserve Bank. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
^ "South Africa faulty 100-rand notes reported | Africa". BanknoteNews.com. 5 December 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
^ "South Africa shreds 3.6 million defective 100-rand notes | Africa". BanknoteNews.com. 20 May 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
^ "Nelson Mandela banknotes to be issued by South Africa". BBC. 11 February 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
^ "Announcement of the Introduction of a New Note Series". Resbank.co.za. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
^ "Nelson Mandela banknotes issued in South Africa". BBC Online.
^ "South Africa new banknotes with Omron rings reported". BankNote News. 6 November 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
^ "New bank notes to honour Nelson Mandela's centenary". BusinessTech. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
^ "This is what South Africa's new Mandela bank notes look like". BusinessTech. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
^ "PICS: New Nelson Mandela banknotes launched". IOL. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
^ "#Madiba100 commemorative notes and coin have a new look and feel". IOL. 14 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Wirz, Heinz. Dr Heinz Wirz on the Bank Notes of South Africa. Volume II - The South African rand (7th ed.).
^ "Banknotes". Where's My Moola. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2012.

External links [edit]

South African Reserve Bank Currency Page
US Federal Reserve Bank historical exchange rate data
South African Currency Page, with a short description of each note.
South African Currency Page (old rand), a short description of pre-1994 (apartheid-era) notes.
Historical banknotes of South Africa (in English and German)
Bank of England exchange rate ZAR vs GBP since 2001 - present

Preceded by: South African pound Reason: decimalisation Ratio: 2 rand = 1 South African pound = 1 British pound	Currency of South Africa 1961 –			Succeeded by: Current
	Currency of South West Africa 1961 – 1990 Note: administered by/occupied by South Africa since 1915	Currency of Namibia 1990 – 1993	Legal tender in Namibia 1993 –	Succeeded by: Namibian dollar Reason: withdrawal from Common Monetary Area Ratio: at par Note: dollar introduced in 1993, with South African rand remaining legal tender
	Currency of Basutoland 1961 – 1966	Currency of Lesotho 1966 – 1980	Legal tender in Lesotho 1980 –	Succeeded by: Lesotho loti Note: loti introduced in 1980, with South African rand remaining legal tender
	Currency of Swaziland 1961 – 1974	Legal tender in Swaziland 1974 – 1986	Circulates in Swaziland 1986 –	Succeeded by: Swazi lilangeni Note: lilangeni introduced in 1974. South African rand continues to circulate unofficially
	Currency of Bechuanaland Protectorate 1961 – 1966	Currency of Botswana 1966 – 1976		Succeeded by: Botswana pula Reason: creation of independent currency