A Coat of Arms is defined, in the Heraldry Act No. 18 of 1962 of South Africa, as any object or figure being a symbolic representation displayed in colours on a shield in conformity with the principles and rules of Heraldry, with or without a crown, helmet, crest, mantling, supporters, motto or other accessories.
Role of the Coat of Arms
Each of the nine provinces of South Africa has its own Coat of Arms that represents that specific region and is the official seal of that province. A Provincial Coat of Arms is the highest visual symbol of a Province. Absolute authority is given to every document with an impression of the Great seal on it.SouthAfrica.co.za offers a description of each of the provinces Coat of Arms and an explanation of what the symbols represent, in all eleven official languages of South Africa.
Coat of Arms Rules for Use
No borders can be drawn around the Coat of Arms, or changes to the thickness of lines.The Coat of Arms may not be rotated, skewed or distorted.
The Coat of Arms may not overlap or be blended with other objects.
A higher ranking Coat of Arms should always be displayed as more dominant.
It has three flowers sprouting from a single stem, which shows unity in the province amongst the different groups of people that live there....
Their prey, which is anything from a scrub hare to small antelope will try to desperately evade the charging cheetah by weaving and dodging ...
The shield is blue, which represents the colour of the gown worn by the speaker in the Provisional Legislature....
During the 10 year period post elections, KwaZulu-Natal used the arms from both Natal and KwaZulu, placed side by side....
The base of the Limpopo Coat of Arms is black and green with the motto - PEACE UNITY AND PROSPERITY, written on a white scroll....
The Coat of Arms for Mpumalanga has a green base with the Latin motto - OMNIA LABOR VINCIT - inscribed on it, which means, “Work conquers ...
This is the only Coat of Arms from any of the provinces of South Africa that is explicitly styled on the colours and in some way the forms o...
This motto is written on the base of the Northern Cape Coat of Arms, which was granted on 25 August 1997....
This Coat of Arms was designed by Fred Brownell, after careful research and consultations with representatives of all the political parties ...