Is flag burning illegal in South Africa?
Legal / protected speech
Post-apartheid South Africa has no law against flag desecration.
South Africa is one of 11 countries classified “Legal / protected speech” for flag desecration — 16% of the 67 with data. (Also searched as flag burning.)
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Flag desecration
- Last checked
- 7 July 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- Ethiopia
- Criminal offense The Ethiopian federal flag proclamation prohibits desecration with fines or imprisonment up to three years for first offense.
- Nigeria
- Criminal offense It is illegal to fly or exhibit the national flag in a defaced condition, punishable by fines.
- Saudi Arabia
- Criminal offense Disrespecting the Saudi flag, considered blasphemy, is prohibited.
- Egypt
- Criminal offense Flag desecration has been illegal in Egypt since 2014 with fines up to 30,000 pounds.
- United Arab Emirates
- Criminal offense UAE punishes flag desecration with 10-25 years prison and fines up to 500,000 dirhams.
- Israel
- Criminal offense Deliberately burning an Israeli flag is illegal and punishable by up to three years imprisonment.
Other laws in South Africa
- Blasphemy Laws
- Criminal offense
- Holocaust Denial
- No specific law
- Conversion Therapy
- Partial ban
Every law in South Africa → · Where is burning the flag illegal? →
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.