Decimal Day use pennies or threepenny pieces, to pay them in multiples of 6d (p, the lowest common multiple of the two systems). Bus companies (at that time many state-owned by the National Bus Company) were another exception, going decimal on Sunday 21 February. Decimal Day itself went smoothly. Criticisms included the small size of the new halfpenny coin and the fact that some traders had taken advantage of the transition to raise prices. Some used new pennies as sixpences in vending machines. After 15 February, shops continued to accept payment in old coins, but always issued change in new coins. The
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