OFFICIAL LYRICS

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo. 

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika.

Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee, 

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

[Paragraph 1 Xhosa
Paragraph 2 Sesotho
Paragraph 3 Afrikaans
Paragraph 4 English]

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION

God bless Africa,
Lift her horn on high,
Hear our prayers.
God bless us
Who are Your people.

God save our nation,
End wars and strife.
South Africa.

Ringing out from our blue heavens,
from our deep seas breaking round;
Over everlasting mountains 
Where the echoing crags resound


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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).

