Coins of the South African rand Coins of the South African rand The coins of the South African rand are part of the physical form of South Africa's currency, the South African rand. In 1961, South Africa replaced the pound with a decimal currency: 100 cents (100c) = 1 rand (R1), 1 rand being valued at 10 shillings and 1 cent at 1.2 pence. The rand was introduced in the then Union of South Africa on 14 February 1961, shortly before the establishment of the Republic on 31 May 1961. The coins bore the forward-facing portrait of Jan van Riebeeck on the obverse. The initial circulation
The Rand Daily Mail black newspaper "The Sowetan" described "The Rand Daily Mail" as the first white newspaper to regard blacks as human beings. Yet for most of the apartheid period (1948–1990) the paper suffered from poor management, government infiltration, and state censorship. The management often tried to replace more liberal editors with conservative ones. After the closure of "The Rand Daily Mail", some of its journalists (like Anton Harber and Irwin Manoim) pooled their severance pay to start the "Weekly Mail" (now "Mail & Guardian"), which carried on the anti-apartheid stance of its predecessor. Times Media Group held the rights to "The Rand