Nelson Mandela city (South Africa)

Eastern Cape Province

Last modified: 2002-07-05 by jarig bakker
Keywords: nmmm | port elizabeth |
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Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality flag

Today, 20 June 2002, saw the official launch of the coat of arms and flag of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality. In addition to the flag there is also a banner.
At the launch this morning there were two flags, one already hoisted on a flagpole on the City Hall roof (on the flagpole where
the old Port Elizabeth used to be hoisted), and one on a pole in the entrance porch, but the only device formally unfurled was the
banner, which was specially rigged up on a horizontal pole above the entrance.
No proportions are specified for either flag or banner, and the flag image follows the proportions of the miniature flags handed
out at the launch.
I haven’t written it up for Armoria yet, but I’ll let you know when I have. In the meantime here are images of the NMMM flag
and that of Port Elizabeth.
I’m not sure when the PE flag was taken into use, but the arms on it are those granted in 1952 – see my page. The flag could be seen flying on the City Hall from at least 1979 onwards (that’s when I came to live in PE), but ceased to have official status at the end of 2000.
This image reproduces the arms as actually used (illustration taken from the deed of grant), but in the flag as flown the colours
were somewhat simplified. I don’t have the proportions of the PE flag, but it seemed to match both the 1928 and 1994 South
African flags.
In the December 2000 municipal elections, all the existing municipalities in the country were merged into new ones. There had,
since 1995, been four metropoles: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban. (These four had boundary adjustments, and
I think Pretoria, at least, was enlarged. The Pretoria metro changed its name to Tshwane, but the name Pretoria is still in use,
perhaps unofficially.) In 2000 Port Elizabeth became part of the fifth metropole, the Nelson Mandela Metropole, comprising PE,
Despatch and Uitenhage.
As far as I know, neither Despatch nor Uitenhage had flags, but to see their arms, follow the links from the PE page on
Armoria.
Mike Oettle, 21 Jun 2002

The slogan says, " WORKING TOGETHER FOR UBUNTU".  Can anyone tell me what Ubuntu is?
Dean McGee, 22 Jun 2002

I found quite a few pages on the web. Here is a summary:
"Ubuntu is a Zulu word that means 'people working together for a common cause.' "
"Ubuntu" means "we are because of those who went before us."
"Ubuntu in the Xhosa language is generally defined as community solidarity."
"Ubuntu refers to the African tradition of working together, caring and sharing"
"Ubuntu" is a word found in several African languages, which means "humanity" and "generosity" at the same time."
All in all, it seems to be a quite complex term, encompassing sharing, humanity and working together, but 'solidarity' seems to be central.
Ole Andersen, 22 Jun 2002

I have given an answer on my page, which tries to cover a broad field of meaning. But the answers you have there are all more or less correct. I should just add that I have used the term isiNguni, because that covers isiXhosa and isiZulu (as well as the Swazi language [isiSwazi/Seswati] and the three distinct languages called isiNdebele). I am not certain as to whether it occurs in all of those, but it's highly likely that it does. It certainly crops up in both isiXhosa and isiZulu. The main language spoken in Nelson Mandela Metropole is isiXhosa.
I have heard the saying put in the plural, but apparently it's mainly used in the singular, and one has to be consistent in one's use of either singular or plural for some reason. But you can see in that sentence the connection between mntu ("a person") and abantu ("people"). It's from the word abantu that the Bantu language group is named.
Mike Oettle, 26 Jun 2002

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality banner

Port Elizabeth flag