Flag of Lesotho
Lesotho’s flag has blue, white and green horizontal stripes, the white widest, with a black Basotho hat (mokorotlo) in the centre. At its unveiling in 2006 the Mail & Guardian reported the blue as standing for rain, the white for peace and the green for prosperity, and Deputy Prime Minister Lesao Lehohla said the flag showed “a nation at peace with itself and at peace with its neighbours”.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The National Flag Act 2006 (Act No. 7 of 2006), published on 4 October 2006, sets out the flag in its schedule: three horizontal stripes, blue, white and green from the top, in the proportion 3:4:3 of the width, with a black Basotho hat centred on the white, its height 92% of the width of the white stripe. The flag is 2 by 3. The colours are Pantone Reflex Blue C, white, black and Pantone Green 347C. The Act repealed the National Flag Act 1987 and made it an offence to fly that flag in public. The new flag was unveiled on the 40th anniversary of independence, 4 October 2006.
Also searched as: basotho hat flag, flag of lesotho, lesotho flag, lesotho flag meaning.
The Basotho hat
The black shape in the centre is the mokorotlo, the cone-shaped hat worn by the Basotho. In a 2024 study at the National University of Lesotho, based on interviews in Maseru, Berea and Leribe, Bohlokoa Senyane found that the hat stands for prominence and national identity. The same study finds the meanings of the blue, white and green in the national motto, khotso, pula, nala.
Why the flag changed in 2006
The flag it replaced was introduced by the military government after the coup of 1986, with the same colours and a shield, a knobkerrie and spears, the Mail & Guardian reported. The study at the National University of Lesotho finds that changes in political power prompted both changes of Lesotho’s flag.
Telling it from Sierra Leone’s flag
Sierra Leone’s flag has the same three colours in the opposite order: its constitution gives green, white and blue from the top, in three stripes and nothing else. Lesotho’s has blue at the top, a wider white stripe and the black hat.
Read next
- Next in African flagsFlag of MalawiMalawi’s flag is three horizontal stripes, black, red and green, with a red rising sun in the black stripe. Lex, the Danish national encyclopedia, explains the sun as the dawn of hope and freedom for all of Africa, the black as Africa, the red as the blood shed in the struggle for freedom and the green as Malawi’s fields and forests.
- The same shape in Asian flagsFlag of JordanJordan’s flag has three equal stripes of black, white and green and a red triangle at the pole holding a white seven-pointed star. Al-Mamlaka, Jordan’s public broadcaster, explains the stripes as the Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates, the red triangle as the Hashemite family, and the seven points of the star as the seven verses of the Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Quran.
More african flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines, squares and rectangles or triangles.
Sources
- National Flag Act, 2006 (Lesotho), Act No. 7 of 2006, Lesotho Government Gazette Extraordinary vol. LI no. 50, 4 October 2006, sections 3–7 and Schedule, Government of Lesotho (copy at Gazettes.Africa), Sections 3, 5, 7; Schedule
- Lesotho unfurls new ‘peace’ flag to mark independence, Mail & Guardian (Sapa-AFP), 3 October 2006, Mail & Guardian, Whole article
- The evolution of the Lesotho National Flag, Bohlokoa Senyane, The evolution of the Lesotho National Flag (thesis, 2024), abstract, National University of Lesotho, Thomas Mofolo Library repository, Abstract
- Sierra Leone 1991 (reinst. 1996, rev. 2022) Constitution, Constitution of Sierra Leone of 1991 (rev. 2022), Section 3, Constitute Project, Section 3
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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