SADC Flag

Description

The SADC flag is available from Flags Online in full-size and desk formats, printed on both sides and made to last outdoors.

About the SADC Flag

The SADC flag represents not a single country but a bloc of them: the Southern African Development Community, a regional grouping that includes South Africa and its neighbours. The flag is dark blue, carrying a large green circle just off-centre with the letters “SADC” set across it in gold. It was launched at a summit in Kempton Park, South Africa, in August 1995, marking the point at which the regional grouping formalised itself under a binding treaty, rather than the looser coordinating body it had been through the 1980s.

Colours and Symbolism

Blue stands for the sky and the oceans that surround and cross the region, source of the water that sustains its people. Green represents the region’s plant and animal life and its agricultural potential, a shared resource across member states from Tanzania in the north to South Africa in the south. Gold, used for the lettering, represents the mineral wealth found across the region, from South Africa’s gold and platinum belts to the diamonds, copper and other resources mined elsewhere in the bloc. Together the colours are meant to speak to shared natural resources rather than to any single member country.

History of the SADC Flag

The organisation the flag represents began life in 1980 as the Southern African Development Coordination Conference, a looser alliance of states working to reduce economic dependence on apartheid-era South Africa. It was reconstituted as the Southern African Development Community under a treaty signed in 1992, and the SADC flag now in use followed a few years later. Rather than being designed internally, it came out of an open competition that drew more than a thousand entries from citizens across the member states, and the winning design was adopted and unveiled at the Kempton Park summit on 28 August 1995. It has not been redesigned since.

Flying and Displaying the Flag

The SADC flag is flown at the organisation’s headquarters in Gaborone, Botswana, and at summits and official meetings of member states, typically alongside the national flags of the countries taking part. Because it represents a bloc rather than a single nation, it is used more sparingly than a national flag – it appears at regional and diplomatic events rather than as an everyday civic symbol – and anyone reproducing it should keep to the specified Pantone shades of blue, green and gold, since a flag in the wrong tones can be mistaken for an unrelated design.

SADC Flag Sizes and Pricing

• 180 x 120cm — R860
• 22 x 15cm Desk Flag (10 units) — R800
• 10 x 15cm Desk Flag (10 units) — R650
• 90 x 60cm — R400

Material and Construction

Made from 100% polyester bunting material and digitally printed on both sides. Hemmed all around with two rows of stitching and finished with a polyester webbing heading. Rope and toggle for hoisting included.

Supplied in packs of 10. Printed on both sides onto polyester and supplied with a black plastic stick and removable base — take the base off and it doubles as a hand waving flag.

Ordering and Delivery

Every SADC flag is printed to order and dispatched from our Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and Johannesburg branches, with courier delivery nationwide. Bulk and school orders are welcome — contact us for volume pricing on quantities of 10 or more.

Order Lead Times

Almost everything we make is freshly printed and made to order, just for you! So please allow 3–5 working days for us to prepare your order before it heads out the door. We’ll always try to get it to you sooner where we can. Some fast movers, like South African flags, ship quicker as they’re often in stock.

One quick thing to keep in mind: the “next working day” you see on your order confirmation is the courier’s delivery time from the day we dispatch — not from the day you place your order. So it’s really 3–5 days to prepare + next-day delivery.

Good things are worth the wait — we’re excited to get your order into your hands.

Additional information