Die Stem van Suid-Afrika
| English: The Call of South Africa | |
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National anthem of  South Africa
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| Lyrics | Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, 1918 |
| Music | Marthinus Lourens de Villiers, 1921 |
| Adopted | 1957 1994 Jointly with Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika |
| Relinquished | 1997 |
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 Instrumental rendition
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Die Stem van Suid-Afrika (Afrikaans: [di ˈstɛm fɐn sœi̯t ˈɐfrikɑː]) or "The Call of South Africa" was the national anthem of South Africa from 1957 to 1994, and shared national anthem status with Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika until 1997, when a new hybrid anthem was adopted.
In May 1918, C.J. Langenhoven wrote an Afrikaans poem called "Die Stem", for which music was composed by the Reverend Marthinus Lourens de Villiers in 1921. It was widely used by the South African Broadcasting Corporation in the 1920s, which played it at the close of daily broadcasts, along with "God Save The King". It was sung publicly for the first time on 31 May 1928. It was not translated into English until 1952, while "God Save The Queen" did not cease to have official status until 1957. The poem originally had only three verses, but the government asked the author to add a fourth verse with a religious theme.
The anthem speaks throughout of commitment to the Vaderland (father land) and to God. However, the anthem was generally disliked by black South Africans, who saw it as triumphalist and associated it with the apartheid regime where one verse shows dedication to Afrikaners. As the dismantling of apartheid began in the early 1990s, South African teams were readmitted to international sporting events, which presented a problem as to the choice of national identity South Africa had to present. Agreements were made with the African National Congress that "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" would not be sung at rugby matches, but at a rugby union test match against New Zealand in 1992, the crowd spontaneously sang Die Stem during the minute of silence, and sang Die Stem again after the New Zealand anthem was sung. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona that year, Schiller's "Ode to Joy", as set to Beethoven's music, was used instead, along with a neutral Olympic flag.
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