South Africa Currency 20 Rand banknote 2005 African Bush Elephant
South African Reserve Bank - Suid-Afrikaanse Reserwebank
The Famous Big Five animals of Africa
Leopard, African Buffalo, Transvaal Lion, African Elephant, Rhinoceros
Obverse: Close-up of an African Bush Elephant head at right and a vignette of the African Bush Elephant family walking in the bush at center (The African Bush Elephant, also known as the Savanna Elephant). Outline drawings of round brilliant cut at the bottom. Outline drawing of round brilliant cut with coinciding register, as security measure at lower left corner. The parts printed on the back perfectly match the ones on the front. At the top are the name of the bank in English "South African Reserve Bank". The present South African Coat of Arms is used prominently on the front top left corner. The face value of the banknote in arabic numerals "20" are in top left and lower right corners and in words: in English "TWENTY RAND" along the right side of the banknote.
Signature: Tito Mboweni - President Governor of the South African Reserve Bank. (Tito Titus Mboweni, born 16 March 1959) is the current Minister of Finance of South Africa. Mboweni was the eighth Governor of the South African Reserve Bank and the first Black South African to hold the post. He was sworn in as Finance Minister on 9 October 2018, following Nhlanhla Nene's resignation.)
Reverse: The theme of this banknote reverse is Surface mining industry - Open-pit mining. On the upper part of the banknote are three graphic image of round brilliant cut. Outline drawing of round brilliant cut with coinciding register, as security measure at lower right corner. The parts printed on the back perfectly match the ones on the front. At the top are the name of the bank in Tswana "Banka-kgolo ya Aforika Borwa " and in Southern Ndebele "lBulungelo-mali eliKhulu leSewula Afrika" at the bottom. The face value of the banknote in arabic numerals "20" are in top left and lower right corners, in numerals and words: in English "TWENTY RAND" along the right side of the banknote.
Watermark: African Bush Elephant and electrotype 20.
Size: 134 × 70 mm.
Colour: Deep brown and red-brown on multicolored underprint.
Printer: South African Bank Note Company Ltd, Pretoria.
The South African Coat of Arms is used prominently on the front top left corner of all the denominations. It can also be seen in the iridescent band on the back, and as a holographic image in the security thread of the R50, R100 and R200 banknotes.
Watermark: This is smaller and the denomination numeral is added to the watermark of the main motif.
Perfect registration: This see-through security feature reveals the denomination numeral in perfect registration on the front and back when the banknote is held up to the light.
Windowed security thread: On the R50, R100 and R200 banknotes the thread is 4 mm wide. “SARB”, “RAND” and the denomination numeral appear when the banknote is held up to the light, and a holographic Coat of Arms appears in the thread when tilted. On the R10 and R20 banknotes the thread is 2 mm wide and “SARB” and the denomination numeral appear in clear text.
Diamond shapes: The dots on the front that assist the blind to distinguish between the denominations have been replaced with diamonds: 1 diamond for the R10, 2 diamonds for the R20, 3 diamonds for the R50, 4 diamonds for the R100, and 5 diamonds for the R200.
Unique numbering: This has moved from the front to the back: a vertical number on the left-hand side and a horizontal number top right. The horizontal number is conical.
Microlettering: “SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK” appears in microlettering to the right of the animal’s ear. The microlettering is printed in positive and negative text.
Iridescent band: This is a very prominent feature in a gold colour on the back of all banknotes. When tilted, the Coat of Arms and the denomination numeral appear.
Different geometric shapes: These have been added to the front of the banknotes as an aid for the partially sighted: diamond on the R10, square on the R20, circle on the R50, and different hexagons on the R100 and R200.
Latent image: When the banknote is held almost horizontally at eye level, the denomination numeral appears inside the geometric shapes.
Optically variable ink: On the R50, R100 and R200 banknotes the denomination numeral on the front bottom right is printed in colour-changing ink. When the R50 and R100 banknotes are tilted, the colour changes from green to gold. On the R200 it changes from magenta to green.
Denomination numerals: These are more prominent on both the front and back of the banknotes.