Since 1997, the South African national anthem has been a hybrid song combining new English lyrics with extracts of the hymn “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” and the former anthem “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika” (The Voice of South Africa). The fact that it shifts and ends in a different key makes it compositionally unique. The lyrics employ the five most widely spoken of South Africa’s eleven official languages – Xhosa (first stanza, first two lines), Zulu (first stanza, last two lines), Sesotho (second stanza), Afrikaans (third stanza) and English (final stanza).
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika was composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Methodist school teacher. It was originally sung as a church hymn but later became an act of political defiance against the apartheid government. Die Stem van Suid-Afrika is a poem written by C.J. Langenhoven in 1918 and was set to music by the Reverend Marthinus Lourens de Villiers in 1921. Die Stem was the co-national anthem with God Save the King/Queen from 1936 to 1957, when it became the sole national anthem until 1995. The South African government under Nelson Mandela adopted both songs as national anthems from 1995 until they were merged in 1997 to form the current anthem.
Click here to listen to the National Anthem of South Africa
English Translation
God [Lord] bless Africa
Raise high its glory
Hear our prayers
God bless us, her children
God, we ask You to protect our nation
Intervene and end all conflicts
Protect us, protect our nation, our nation,
South Africa – South Africa
Out of the blue of our heavens,
Out of the depths of our seas,
Over our everlasting mountains,
Where the echoing crags resound,
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land