These two churches shared the same origin dating back to the 19th century, when Britain took over the Cape Colony.

The Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa was constituted among soldiers and settlers who arrived in the Cape in 1820, spreading north into Zimbabwe and Zambia.

[2] The motto Nec tamen consumebatur is adapted from the Latin translation of Exodus 3:2 "...The Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet it was not consumed."

The UPCSA ordains both men and women as ministers and elders, a position inherited from the predecessor body, the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa.

[5] In 2019 the UPCSA celebrated its twentieth anniversary after having spent much of that time in forging structures of union.