The new ochre-red, white and green tri-colour of the Transkei is adopted

Within the old South Africa, 10 homelands were created. The 'separate development' policies (Apartheid) of H.F. Verwoerd resulted in the 'awarding' of 'self-government' to four of these 10 homelands including an area known as the Transkei in 1963. This was followed by 'full independance' in 1976. Section 4 of the Transkei Constitution Act of 1963, an Act of the South African Parliament, made provision for the adoption of a Transkei national flag. The design of the Transkei flag is set out in section 2 of the Transkei Flag Act of 1966, which reads as follows: "The Transkeian flag shall be a flag consisting of three horizontal stripes of equal width from top to bottom ochre-red, white and green. The width of the Transkeian flag shall be equal to two-thirds of the length". The flag was adopted on 20 May 1966 and was officially hoisted for the first time on (South Africa's) Republic Day, 31 may 1966. It was retained unchanged when the Republic of Transkei came into being on 26 October 1976. The red-ochre in the flag is derived from the colour of the soil or "Im-bola" from which traditional Xhosa huts are built, while white stands for peace and the green represents the rolling hills of the countryside. The area known as the Transkei incorporated many, though not all, of the Xhosa speaking tribes. These former South African Homelands/bantustans ceased to exist on 27 April 1994. They have all been reincorporated into South Africa. The flags of the former Homelands are no longer in use.