Who designed Botswana's national flag?

George Winstanley designed Botswana’s national flag. His design became the country’s flag at independence, replacing the Union Jack on 30 September 1966.

The flag uses a light blue field crossed horizontally by a black band edged in white. The design was deliberately distinct from South Africa’s flag during the apartheid era. The black and white bands are commonly interpreted as expressing racial harmony and cooperation among Botswana’s diverse population, while the blue is associated with the sky and with water, an especially important symbol in a dry country.

Botswana’s national motto, “Pula,” means rain or water, and the flag’s blue field is closely connected with that idea. The design is also notable because it does not use the Pan-African colours of red, yellow and green, nor the colours of Botswana’s dominant political party.

The flag’s independence-era origin can cause a mix-up with earlier colonial symbols. Before 1966, Bechuanaland was a British protectorate and had no comparable independent national flag; the Union Jack served as the principal official flag. Winstanley’s design therefore marked both statehood and a new national identity.