South African rand (ZAR)

The rand is the currency of South Africa. It takes its name from the Witwatersrand (White-waters-ridge in Afrikaans), the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found. It was first introduced in 1961, coinciding with the establishment of the Republic of South Africa. It replaced the South African pound as legal tender, at the rate of two rand per pound or ten shillings to the rand. The rand has the symbol 'R' and is divided into 100 cents, symbol 'c', and is available in denominations of five notes (R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200) and seven coins (5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, R1, R2 and R5). One and two cent coins were also available until their discontinuation in April 2002, primarily due to inflation devalueing them. All prices are now rounded to the nearest 5c and the coins are no longer in circulation.