Metrication

If I undertook a street survey and asked passers-by how much they weighed or how tall they were, the answers I would get back would be dependent on what system of weight and measures a person was brought up on and was familiar with. Grandparents would most likely answer in imperial units (pounds, feet & inches), and their grandchildren would reply in metric units (kilograms and metres), the reason for this is that South Africa converted to the metric system in the early 1970’s. Metrication started here in 1967 with the appointment of a Metrication Advisory Board to oversee the change over from the old units to the new (click here for a short history of Metrication in South Africa) with the bulk of the process taking place between 1971 and 1973. The authoritarian Nationalist Government speeded up events by banning the sale of measuring devices calibrated in imperial units, and by 1977 the Board was made redundant. South Africans on the whole took metrication without complaint and accepted it as a move forward, just as they had with the decimalisation of our currency 10 years before (1961) when the country changed from Pounds, Shillings and Pence (£.s.d.) to Rands and cents (at an exchange rate of R2-00 to £1). The changing of the currency (on 14-02-1961) not only signified going decimal but also South Africa’s impending departure from the British Commonwealth, which would be on the 31st May 1961 when South Africa became a republic (59 years after the...

It is hard to believe that it has only been a few decades since South Africa adopted the metric system. The shift had a profound impact on the economy and the daily lives of citizens. Many of South Africa's largest trading partners at the time were either using the metric system or had committed to moving over. This provided the impetus for South Africa to get going. The strength of the apartheid state ensured that implementation was highly effective. Below is a short overview of metrication in South Africa written by Peter Ball, retired structural engineer.

Metrication, in the context of South Africa, is defined as the change-over from the use of Imperial weights and measures to those introduced by the “Systeme International d’Unites” - SI for short.

On 15 September 1967 it was announced that a Metrication Advisory Board would be established to plan and co-ordinate the change over to the metric system. A Metrication Department, under the auspices of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), was set up to implement the decisions of the Advisory Board. A transition period of ten years was planned and this was successfully achieved by the excellent co-operation of commerce, industry, agriculture, government departments, the professions and above all the man in the street.

Prior to metrication came the decimalisation of our currency, on the 14 February 1961 (exactly 10 years before the UK), whereby the Rand replaced the former British unit of currency; the Pound Sterling (£.s.d.). It was valued at R 2-00c to the...