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The Herald, 27 March 1980

THE design of the new national flag features a gold Zimbabwe bird on a red five-pointed star.

The Zimbabwe bird, superimposed on the star, is situated on a white triangle at the hoist of the flag.

The field of the flag consists of seven horizontal stripes of equal size. The colour sequence from top to bottom is green, gold, red, black, red, gold, green.

The white triangle is separated from the coloured panels by a thin black line.

The design was approved by the Prime Minister, Mr Mugabe, yesterday afternoon, subject to two changes, a Cabinet official, Mr Chris Broadbent, said.

The Zimbabwe bird and star are to be larger, and the second panel will be in the same gold as the bird.

Manufacturing of the flag will probably start today. The flag was designed by the committee for independence celebrations, but no one from the committee was available yesterday to explain the significance of the colours.

Mr Broadbent said manufacturing of the flag would have to start immediately because of the work involved in its making, each of the seven panels is stitched separately. Thousands of flags will be needed for Independence Day April 18.

Lessons For Today

Flags are more than embroidered patterns on traditional silk or visual methods of communication. They represent much more and are very symbolic.

The history of flags goes back to the times of the Roman empire where a staff with a banner (vexilloids) was used to represent a troops military affiliation and were often tangible and capturable symbols on the battle field.

Over the years, the importance and value of flags has evolved to represent statehood and national sovereignty.

In international relations, flags serve as visual ambassadors, representing a nation’s history, values and sovereignty. They are a source of pride and unity for citizens, and are a means of identification for foreign dignitaries.

Our national flag, which is made up of five different colours — green, gold, red, black and white, carries political, regional and cultural meanings and is a symbol of pride as a nation. Green represents the agriculture, yellow stands for the country’s mineral wealth, red symbolises the blood shed during the struggle for independence and black majority rule.