It was seldom sung in its entirety usually, the first stanza was the most widely known and sung sometimes followed by the last stanza. 'Die Stem van Suid-Afrika' (English: 'The Voice of South Africa') was composed of eight stanzas: the original four in Afrikaans and four in English - a translation of the Afrikaans with a few modifications. 'Die Stem' (English: 'The voice of South Africa') was the co-national anthem with ' God Save the King' between 19, when it became the sole national anthem until 1994.

Langenhoven in 1918 and was set to music by Marthinus Lourens de Villiers in 1921.

During this period, South Africa's national anthem was ' Die Stem van Suid-Afrika', also known as 'Die Stem', an Afrikaans-language song that chronicled the Voortrekkers and their ' Great Trek'. History National anthems of South Africaįrom the late 1940s to the early 1990s, South Africa was governed by a system known as apartheid, a widely condemned system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination that was based on white supremacy and the repression of the black majority for the benefit of the politically and economically dominant Afrikaner minority and other whites. The fact that it shifts ( modulates) and ends in a different key (from G major to D major), a feature that it shares with the Italian and the Philippine national anthems, makes it compositionally unusual. The first half was arranged by Mzilikazi Khumalo and the latter half of the song was arranged by Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, who also wrote the final verse. The lyrics are sung in these languages regardless of the native language of the singer. The lyrics employ the five most widely spoken of South Africa's eleven official languages – Xhosa (first stanza, first two lines), Zulu (first stanza, last two lines), Sesotho (second stanza), Afrikaans (third stanza), and English (final stanza). The committee responsible for this new composition included Anna Bender, Elize Botha, Richard Cock, Dolf Havemann (Secretary), Mzilikazi Khumalo (chairman), Masizi Kunene, John Lenake, Fatima Meer, Khabi Mngoma, Wally Serote, Johan de Villiers, and Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph. The anthem is often referred to by its incipit of 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika', but this has never been its official title, which is simply 'National Anthem of South Africa'. ''Lord Bless Africa'') and the Afrikaans song that was used as the South African national anthem during the apartheid era, ' Die Stem van Suid-Afrika' (English: 'The Voice of South Africa'), with new English lyrics. The national anthem of South Africa was adopted in 1997 and is a hybrid song combining extracts of the 19th century Xhosa hymn ' Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika' (English: 'God Bless Africa', lit. Ḓivhazwakale ya Limbo lwa Lushaka lwa Afrika Tshipembe Umlandvo we Ngoma yeSive yase Ningizimu Afrika

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