Until 1961, our currency was the South African Pound and was structured in a similar way to the British Pound at the time, with one Pound consisting of 20 shillings, and a shilling being equal to 12 pennies. Colloquially a three penny coin was called a “tickey”, six pennies were called “sixpence” and a shilling was called a “bob”.

Although by the 1960’s many countries had adopted decimal currencies, Britain and many of the Commonwealth countries had not yet done so. Britain finally converted to a decimal currency in 1971, and this conversion was partly prompted by the prior successful conversion to a decimal currency by one of her former colonies: South Africa.

As far back as 1913, there were suggestions that the then Union of South Africa should adopt a decimal monetary system but no real steps were taken until the late 1950’s when the Decimal Coinage Commission gave its attention to the issue. In 1958, the SA government chose, from the various systems proposed, to decimalise and introduce  Rands and cents. The Rand took its name from the Witwatersrand  (literally “White Waters’ Ridge” in English), the ridge upon which Johannesburg

is built and where most of South Africa’s gold deposits were found.

The decision to decimalise was based on the consideration that to go decimal was feasible and practical. Since the decimal system is based on the number 10, calculations would be simplified. Calculations of costs, invoices, interest and so forth could be made with greater speed and with fewer errors. Most of the modern machines had been designed for the decimal system by then and a larger variety – and at cheaper prices – could therefore be obtained quickly.

The Decimal Coinage Act of 1959 was passed and a new currency, the Rand (subdivided into 100 cents), was legislated. Finally on 14 February 1961, Rands and cents were introduced into circulation. To promote the new currency the government introduced a mascot in the press and on radio (television was not to be introduced in SA for another 23 years). Decimal Dan, “the rand-cent man”, was tasked with familiarising South Africans with their new currency.

The first series of Rand banknotes introduced in 1961 were in denominations of R1, R2, R10 and R20, with similar designs and colours to the preceding pound notes to ease the transition.

The notes continued to bear the image of Jan van Riebeeck, the first Dutch administrator of the Cape, which at that time had appeared on the South African pound notes. (It was later suggested that the face on the notes was in fact not Van Riebeeck at all – see article).

The new cent coins were introduced in denominations of ½, 1, 2½, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents. As the introduction of the new currency took place in the same year that South Africa became a Republic, the image of the ruling British monarch’s head did not appear on our coins, replaced instead by Van Riebeeck’s profile. In later years, Van Riebeeck’s head was replaced by the SA coat of arms, and up until the mid-1980’s the heads of various of our pre-1994 rulers also appeared on certain of our coins, including those of Hendrik Verwoerd and BJ Vorster.

For many years the denominations of notes and coins remained unchanged.

In 1989 a R2 coin was introduced, followed by a R5 coin in 1994. During the 1990’s, the Rand notes were redesigned with images of the Big Five wildlife species replacing the face of Van Riebeeck and R50, R100 and then R200 notes were introduced.

Production of 1-cent and 2-cent coins was discontinued in 2002, primarily due to inflation having devalued them. These coins remain legal tender, although South African consumers have become used to the practice of many shops rounding the total purchase price of goods to the nearest 5 cents in favour of the consumer. Incidentally, any of the old discontinued R1, R2 and R5 bank notes out there also remain legal tender.

In 2012, President Jacob Zuma announced that the country would be issuing new banknotes bearing the late president Nelson Mandela’s image. These entered into circulation in November 2012.