South African rand

South African rand
List 10 other official names: Suid-Afrikaanse rand  (Afrikaans) iRanti yeSewula Afrika  (Southern Ndebele) iRanti yoMzantsi Afrika  (Xhosa) iRandi laseNingizimu Afrika  (Zulu) liRandi laseNingizimu Afrika  (Swati) Ranta ya Afrika-Borwa  (Northern Sotho) Ranta ya Afrika Borwa  (Sotho) Ranta ya Aforika Borwa  (Tswana) Rhandi ya Afrika Dzonga  (Tsonga) Rannda ya Afurika Tshipembe  (Venda)
South African banknotes 2012 circulation, beginning 6 November 2012
ISO 4217
Code	ZAR
Number	710
Exponent	2
Denominations
Subunit
1/100	Cent
Plural	rand
Symbol	R
Cent	c
Banknotes	R 10, R 20, R 50, R 100, R 200
Coins	10c, 20c, 50c, R 1, R 2, R 5
Demographics
Official user(s)	South Africa  Lesotho  Namibia  Swaziland
Unofficial user(s)	Zimbabwe
Issuance
Central bank	South African Reserve Bank
Website	www.resbank.co.za
Valuation
Inflation	3.6% (South Africa only)
Source	South African Reserve Bank, November 2010
Method	CPI
Pegged with	Lesotho loti, Swazi lilangeni, and Namibian dollar at par

The South African rand (sign: R; code: ZAR) is the currency of South Africa. The rand is subdivided into 100 cents (sign: "c"). Unlike the US dollar, the decimal separator between a rand and cent is expressed by a comma. The ISO 4217 code is ZAR, from Dutch Zuid-Afrikaanse Rand (South African rand). The rand is the currency of the Common Monetary Area between South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Namibia.

Historical users of the South African rand included South-West Africa and the nominally independent bantustans under the apartheid system: Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Transkei and Venda.

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

The cent was introduced in the then Union of South Africa on 14 February 1961, three months before the Republic of South Africa was established. A Decimal Coinage Commission had been set up in 1956 to consider a move away from the denominations of pounds, shillings, and pence, submitting its recommendation 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 Dan Desimaal). This was accompanied by a radio jingle, to inform the public about the new currency.