January 2013

The South African Reserve Bank on 6 November 2012 rolled out new bank notes bearing the face of the country’s first black President Nelson Mandela marking it as a tribute to him. The Note issued by the South African Reserve Bank, displayed the 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon’s smiling face. Also, the earlier images of one of the five big animals featured on the old bank notes – lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo and elephant – will be retained on the reverse of the note. Nelson Mandela is currently living out his retirement in his childhood rural village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape Province. Nelson Mandela held office between 1994 and 1999 and he is the first black face to appear on South African money.

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