South African Rand.....

The rand (sign: R; code: ZAR[a]) is the official currency of South Africa. It is subdivided into 100 cents (sign: "c").....

The rand is legal tender in the Common Monetary Area between South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia, although the last three countries do have their own currencies pegged at par with the rand. Before 1976, the rand was legal tender in Botswana. The Botswanan pula replaced the rand at par in that year.


Etymology

The rand takes its name from the Witwatersrand ("white waters' ridge" in English), the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found.
 

History

The rand was introduced in the Union of South Africa on 14 February 1961, three months before the country declared itself a republic.A Decimal Coinage Commission had been set up in 1956 to consider a move away from the denominations of pounds, shillings, and pence; it submitted its recommendations on 8 August 1958. It replaced the South African pound as legal tender, at the rate of 2 rand to 1 pound, or 10 shillings to the rand. The government introduced a mascot, Decimal Dan, "the rand-cent man" (known in Afrikaans as Daan Desimaal). This was accompanied by a radio jingle, to inform the public about the new currency.