In 1989 the South African Mint proposed a new coin series for South Africa and recommended a complete change to electroplated coins as a solution to the escalating costs of materials and manufacturing and the increasing risk of falsification.

The new series was divided into three different groups:

The first Springbok appeared as long ago as 1947 as a true South African symbol on our silver crown size coins. The original design is still viewed as one of the best designs in the world. Based on the original artwork of one of South Africa's famous sculptors, Coert Steynberg, the Springbok was used on various other South African coins. These were the gold one-pound and ½ pound coins, and later the gold R1 and R2 coins. From 1960 to 1964, the Springbok reappeared on the reverse of the 50c. This prancing buck was also chosen to be the symbol on the Krugerrand from 1967 to date. The Springbok was also depicted on the R1 nickel coins from 1977 - 1990. When introducing the current coin series in 1989, the Springbok was once again the chosen design for the reverse of the new smaller R1 coin. The words "SOLI DEO GLORIA" ("To God alone the Glory") appear on the R1 coins. In 2002, The Johannesburg World Summit (a United Nations Convention) was held in South Africa. To commemorate this prestigious event, a couple of million "World Summit" R1 circulation coins were manufactured and put into circulation.

Specifications

Language rotation

2002 - Afrikaans and Sepedi/Sesotho

2003 - isiXhosa and Afrikaans

2004 - isiZulu and isiXhosa

2005 - siNdebele and isiZulu

2006 -Tshivenda and isiNdebele

2007 - isiSwati and Tshivenda

2008 - Xitsonga and siSwati

2009 - English and Xitsonga

2010 - Setswana and English

2011 - Sepedi/Sesotho and Setswana