South Africa Upgrades Banknotes and Issues New Coin Series

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has released an upgraded set of banknotes and coins, which feature enhanced security features, colour, and – for the coins – new fauna and flora.

South Africa’s currency, the rand, takes its name from the Witwatersrand – the ridge on which Johannesburg is built and where most of the country’s gold deposits were found. It was introduced in 1961, replacing the South African pound. It is legal tender in the Common Monetary Area member states of Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini, alongside their own national currencies. It is also widely used in Angola, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The first series was issued in 1961, the second in 1966, the third in 1978 and the fourth in 1992, when the Big 5 animals first made their appearance. The fifth series, of 2005, saw the introduction of the 11 official languages of South Africa. The sixth series, in 2012, featured the portrait of former President and international icon Nelson Mandela on the front with the images of the Big 5 animals moving to the reverse.

In 2018, a special commemorative series was issued to celebrate the centenary of Mandela’s birth. The front of the notes were the same as the circulating versions, but the animals on the reverse were replaced with images of scenes telling the story of Mandela’s life from young boy to president. This was understood to be a world first in terms of a whole commemorative banknotes series.

The latest series was designed by De la Rue with origination undertaken by Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions, and printed on paper from Louisenthal by the South African Banknote Company. It is the same in many respects to the 2012 series, but with a series of enhancements to improve security, increase production efficiency and assist the visually impaired.

The colour of the notes have been enhanced to improve visual differentiation between the denominations. The portrait of Nelson Mandela remains on the front, and one each of the Big 5 appear on the reverse (the rhinoceros on the R10, elephant on the R20, lion on the R50, Cape buffalo on the R100 and leopard on the R200).

The watermarks - corresponding with the animal on the reverse - have been retained but enhanced with higher tonality. They also feature an electrotype of the denomination.

The key new visual security features are 4mm wide RollingStar® threads for all five denominations and SPARK® Live Truspin in synchronised colours. The colour shifts are green-to-azure for the R10, gold-to-jade for the R20, magenta-to-green for the R50 and R200, and green-to-magenta for the R100.

The threads have Multicode™ magnetic security and feature the abbreviation SARB and the Big 5 animal unique to each denomination, along with the numeral in Cleartext. The SPARK Live is printed on each note in the shape of the animal on the reverse, with its young, which spins and changes colour as the banknote is tilted.

There are a number of features to aid the visually impaired. These include the denomination numeral on the front and back printed in both positive and negative text and raised tactile marks along the short edges of the notes, the number of which correspond to the denomination.

In addition, a see through feature corresponding to the respective animal is surrounded by a different geometric shape according to the denomination as a specific aid for the partially-sighted.

The notes are printed with intaglio on both sides. The text on the front is English, while on the reverse are two of the 11 official languages per denomination (apart from the R100, which has three).

The preamble to the South African Constitution is incorporated as micro-lettering which appears in a series of concentric circles around the portrait in varying sizes of text.

The changes to the coins are more significant, being the fourth series since decimalisation in 1961 and the first redesign in 34 years. The purpose of the new series is to improve security and efficiency, and it has as its theme ‘Deep Ecology’.

As with the previous coin series, all of South Africa's 11 official languages are used on the new coins. On the R1, only one language is included, while three languages appear on the R5 coin and two on the R2, 50c, 20c and 10c coins. To ensure the use of all 11 languages, the coins will be minted over a set period on a rotational system basis. Over the next 10 years, the languages will be alternated annually.

The design on the front of the coins is common to all – the South African coat of arms, year of minting, and the words South Africa in one, two or three of the 11 languages.

The reverse of the coins feature an animal or plant native to South Africa, as did the previous series, but the species have changed. The Cape honey bee features on the 10c, the bitter aloe on the 20c, the Knysna turaco (a large green bird found only in South Africa) on the 50c, the king protea (South Africa’s national flower) on the R1, the springbok on the R2 and the southern whale on the R5, along with a school of galjoen - South Africa’s national fish. The denomination numeral and the word Rand also feature.

Changes have been made to the composition of the R1 and R2 coins, for which the former nickel-plated copper has been replaced by nickel-plated steel. The 10c coin is made from copper-plated steel and the 20 and 50 cent from bronze plated steel,. The R5 is bimetallic and features micro-lettering on the inner circle of the landing, along with a latent image.

The coins were designed and produced by South African Mint.