My Africa Today

South Africa

Words by: Enoch Sontonga and Cornelius Jacob Langenhoven
Music by: Enoch Sontonga and Marthinus Lourens de Villiers
Adopted: 1994

At the time that South Africa's multi-racial system of government was adopted, there were two anthems in use among the people, divided by the old racial lines. "N'kosi Sikelel' iAfrica" (God Bless Africa), written and composed by Enoch Mankayi, which also has the same melody and nearly the same words as the anthems of Tanzania and Zambia, (and, formerly, Zimbabwe), was popular with the black population since it was first composed in 1897 for Mankayi's music students. The song was quickly adopted as the "people's anthem" and made the anthem of the African National Congress (ANC), a group that would become the first majority black political party to lead the country. The white South Africans, however, had been using "Die Stem van Suid Afrika" (The Call of South Africa) since the 1920s on an unofficial basis, and was made the state's official anthem in 1957. Even though the latter anthem was seen as too closely tied to the apartheid system by the majority black population, it was decided in the interim to make both anthems the national anthem, "God Bless Africa" was usually played in its entirety followed by the complete "Die Stem".

In 1997, the two anthems were combined, starting with "God Bless Africa" in Xhosa, followed by Sesotho, then a few lines of "Die Stem" in Afrikaans, and finishing the anthem with another few lines from "Die Stem" in English. (The English lines actually do not appear in the official English version of "Die Stem", but are an abridgement of the last few lines of the first verse, with the words slightly altered to reflect South Africa's new freedom.)

Special thanks to: Ermano Geuer for some of this information.

See also: South Africa (1957-1994).

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