The design of the flag was a red ensign defaced with the coat of arms of South Africa on a white disc.

[1] Though they were intended for maritime usage, the South Africa Red Ensign was used on the land as a de facto national flag similar with other colonies and dominions within the British Empire.

In 1912, a royal warrant was issued amending the South Africa Red Ensign so that the arms were on a white disc to bring it into line with a rule in the Admiralty Flag Book requiring the arms to be on a white disc if any part of them were the same colour as the field of the ensign.

[2] Despite the South Africa Red Ensign being the de facto flag, it was not popular with either British or Afrikaner communities.

[4][5] Discussions to change the flag resulted in three years of volatile negotiations as Afrikaner descendants of Boers who fought in the Boer War found the Union Jack in the flag unacceptable, while British settlers felt that the Afrikaner voting majority was attempting to remove British imperial symbols, and Natal Province threatened to secede if the Union Jack was removed.