Flag of Zimbabwe
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| Use | State flag and civil ensign.   |
| Proportion | 1:2 |
| Adopted | April 18, 1980 |
| Design | Seven horizontal stripes with white triangle containing red 5 point star with Zimbabwe Bird |
The flag of Zimbabwe was adopted on April 18, 1980. The soapstone bird featured on the flag represents a statuette of a bird found at the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. The bird symbolizes the history of Zimbabwe; the red star beneath it symbolizes the revolutionary struggle for liberation and peace.
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Colors
Officially, the meanings of the colors on the flag are as follows:
- Green: the agriculture and rural areas of Zimbabwe
- Yellow: the wealth of minerals in the country
- Red: the blood shed during the war of the liberation
- Black: the heritage and ethnicity of the native Africans of Zimbabwe
- White: peace
The colors are used on the flag of the ruling ZANU PF party.
Official description
Presidential Order No. 16 of 1980 subsequently enacted as the Flag of Zimbabwe Act (Act 22/1985) is as follows:
An Act to provide for the design of the Flag of Zimbabwe and for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing. [Date of commencement: 18 April 1980.]
- 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the Flag of Zimbabwe Act [Chapter 10:10].
- 2 Interpretation
In this Act -
"Flag" means the Flag of Zimbabwe referred to in section three;
"Minister" means the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs or any other Minister to whom the President may, from time to time, assign the administration of the Act.
- 3 Design of Flag of Zimbabwe
The Flag of Zimbabwe shall be as depicted and described in the Schedule.
- 4 Deposit of Flag in National Archives
The Minister shall cause a copy of the Flag to be prepared and deposited in the National Archives established in terms of the National Archives of Zimbabwe Act [Chapter 25:06].
- 5 Regulations
(1) The President may make such regulations as he considers necessary or convenient for the purpose of protecting the Flag from any use or application which, in his opinion, is improper.
(2) Regulations made in terms of subsection (1) may provide regulation, control, restriction or prohibition of -
(a) the importation, manufacture, sale, loan, use, possession, wearing or display of the Flag or any reproduction or likeness thereof;
(b) the application to, or use on, any matter or thing whatsoever of the Flag or any reproduction or likeness thereof.
(3) Regulations made in terms of subsection (1) may provide penalties for any contravention thereof, including the forfeiture of any matter or thing in respect of which or in connection with which the contravention occurred:
Providing that no such penalty, excluding such forfeiture, shall exceed a fine of two thousand dollars or imprisonment for a period of two years or both such fine and such imprisonment.
- 6 Protection of the Flag
Any person who burns, mutilates or otherwise insults the Flag or a flag which resembles or is intended to resemble the Flag or any reproduction thereof, in circumstances which are calculated or likely to show disrespect, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
SCHEDULE (Section 3)
Flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia
Zimbabwe Rhodesia was the largely unrecognised name of Zimbabwe from 1 June 1979 to 18 April 1980, soon after the Internal Settlement in Rhodesia leading to a black majority government. As well as a new name, the state adopted a new flag to mark the transition.
The flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia was designed by Flight Lieutenant Cedric Herbert of the Rhodesian Air Force and a member of the Rhodesian Heraldry and Genealogy Society. The design incorporates the pan-African colours of yellow, black, green and red with the following explanation:
- Black: symbolises the achievement of majority rule in the country,
- Red: is for the struggle for independence,
- Yellow: represents the mineral wealth,
- Green: the agricultural and natural resources of the country,
- The vertical white stripe represents the white community while the central horizontal white stripe represents peace.
Official description
1979 Flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia No. 21 / Printed by Government Printer
Zimbabwe Rhodesia Act
To provide for the adoption of a national flag for Zimbabwe Rhodesia; to provide for the making of regulations to restrict or control the application to any goods of a reproduction of such flag; to repeal the Flag of Rhodesia Act [Chapter 3]; and to provide for matters incidental to or connected with the foregoing.
BE IT ENACTED by the President and the Parliament of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, as follows: -
1. This Act may be cited as the Flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia Act, 1979.
2. In this Act - "Flag" means the Flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia referred to in section three.
3. The Flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia shall be a flag consisting of
(a) at the hoist, a black vertical stripe; and
(b) on the field, three horizontal stripes in the order red, white and green of equal width, separated from the black vertical stripe by a white vertical stripe; and
(c) in canton a representation in gold of the Bird carved in soapstone and discovered at Great Zimbabwe (otherwise the Great Zimbabwe Bird); as depicted in the Schedule.
4. The Minister of Justice shall cause a copy of the Flag to be prepared and deposited in the National Archives established in terms of the National Archives Act [Chapter 309].
5. (1) Where, in the opinion of the President, it is necessary to regulate and control the use of the Flag in order that it is not used for purposes which, in his opinion, are improper, he may make such regulations restricting, regulating or controlling the application to any goods or the importation into Zimbabwe Rhodesia of any goods to which there has been applied a reproduction of the Flag or of a flag which resembles or is intended to resemble the Flag as he may consider to be necessary or expedient for the purpose.
(2) Regulations made in terms of subsection (1) may provide for penalties for any contravention thereof, including provision for the forfeiture of any goods to which a reproduction of the Flag or of a flag which resembles or is intended to resemble the Flag has been applied or which have been imported in contravention of such regulations.
Provided that no such penalty shall exceed a fine of one thousand dollars or imprisonment for period of two years, excluding the value of any goods forfeited.
6. Any person who burns, mutilates or otherwise insults the Flag or a flag which resembles or is intended to resemble the Flag or any reproduction thereof in circumstances which are calculated or likely to show disrespect for the Flag or to bring the Flag into disrepute shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
7. The Flag of Rhodesia Act [Chapter 3] is repealed.
SCHEDULE (Section 3) [1]
References
- ↑ http://www.fotw.net/Flags/zw-zrhod.html Flags of the World
See also
- List of Zimbabwean flags
- Flag of Rhodesia
External
- http://www.fotw.net/Flags/zw.html Flags of the World
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