On February 14, the South African rand celebrated its sixtieth anniversary, having been introduced following the adoption of the recommendations of the Decimal Coinage Commission in 1958 to replace the British-styled pounds, shillings and pence with rands and cents.

The currency code for the rand, still in use today, is ZAR, which is the acronym for the Zuid-Afrikaansche Rand, Dutch for ‘the South African rand’. The currency takes its name from the Witwatersrand, Afrikaans for ‘the White-waters-ridge’, which is the ridge where most of South Africa’s gold deposits were found and which saw the rise of Johannesburg. The rand was introduced by the government of the then Union of South Africa and remained the currency of the union for all of 106 days, before the union became the Republic of South Africa on May 31, 1961.

If trivia is your thing, then you need no reminding that the Union of South Africa came into being on May 31, 1910, with the unification of the Cape Colony, the Natal Colony, the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony, which included the territories that were formerly part of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. Interestingly, there was a South African Republic before there was a union, and after there was a union.

The rand is truly a relic of the past. Is it not time for the name of the currency to be reconsidered?

The rand was introduced at an exchange rate of R2 to £1. From its introduction until 1982, the rand had a value higher than the US dollar. How things have changed! On February 14 this year, £1 cost R20.18 and $1 cost R14.53.

As I sat down to write this piece, a very good friend of mine in Brussels sent me a WhatsApp message about a man and his grandson sitting on a country wall, with the former leaning in, saying: “When I was your age, I used to go to the market with £2 in my pocket and bring home soap, rice, milk, bread, face powder, etc.” Nonchalantly, the grandson responds: “Nowadays it is difficult; there are CCTV cameras everywhere”. Many a truth is spoken in jest, and there are no two ways about it; the rand has lost – and, alarmingly, continues to lose – its buying power. As I have mentioned in previous columns, a country’s exchange rate is essentially its share price. Countries are no different from companies. The market perception of a company’s performance is its share price. Similarly, the market’s perception of a country’s performance is the exchange rate of its currency.

According to a release from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), between 1961 and 2020, prices increased by almost 97 times. What this simply means is that a basket of goods and services costing R100 in 1961 would have cost about R9 700 in 2020.

The StatsSA release offers a few interesting price comparisons between 1961 and 2020. A 1 kg loaf of white bread (store baked) cost 9c, compared with R15.21 for 700 g (sliced). Maize meal in a 5 kg cotton bag cost 30c, compared with R49,27. One kilogram of fresh chicken cost 70c, compared with R58.09. A dozen of large eggs cost 34c, compared with R37.60. Tomatoes cost 20c/kg, compared with R20.74c/kg. A pint (570 m𝓵) of beer cost 16c – and you could return the bottle for a 2c refund! When the sale of beer is allowed again, you can get a 330 m𝓵 lager for R14.56, but with no refund. Cigarettes, which sold for 19c for a pack of 20, now average R43.14. I hasten to add that both beer and cigarettes are currently subject to excessive excise duties.

I do appreciate and endorse StatsSA’s wish: “So, to all those newly minted couples celebrating Valentine’s Day, may your love have the longevity of the rand – just keep it stronger.”