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Answer:

Given South Africa's cultural and ethnic diversity as well as its troubled history, the fact that its national anthem is a hybrid song should come as no surprise. This blended composition takes elements from two previously separate anthems to create a symbol of unity and reconciliation for the country.

Following the first free elections in 1994, two co-anthems were used. The first was "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (God Bless Africa), a Christian hymn composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Xhosa Methodist mission school teacher and choirmaster near Johannesburg. This hymn had become a pan-African liberation anthem. The second was "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" (The Call of South Africa), based on a poem written in 1918 by C.J. Langenhoven, one of the major influencers of Afrikaans literature. This was set to music in 1921 by Marthinus Lourens (ML) de Villiers, a Dutch Reformed Church minister.

However, the search for a new united anthem had started. Following a competition, over 200 entries were considered, but it was eventually decided to try and blend the current songs. In 1995, President Nelson Mandela requested Professor Mzilikazi Khumalo, a noted composer and Professor of African Languages, and Professor Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, the first woman in South Africa to earn a doctorate in music composition, to merge the two politically and musically opposing anthems. No easy task indeed.

Professor Khumalo arranged the first section (Nkosi S ikelel' iAfrika), ensuring that the phrasing honoured the traditional choral, harmonic, and linguistic nuances of the IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, and Sesotho verses. The second or Western section was arranged by Professor Zaidel-Rudolph, who crafted the final orchestral arrangement by editing out repetitive vocals and writing the closing English lyrics. The final product is an anthem that is sung in five of South Africa's eleven national languages, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans, and English. Because the final melody starts in one key and ends in another, the song is one of the world's more musically distinctive anthems.

This version was officially adopted in 1997 under the 1996 Constitution (via a proclamation in Government Gazette No. 18341 on 10 October 1997) as the National Anthem of South Africa. It a fitting reflection of the rainbow nation.

Here are the full lyrics in the five languages:

isiXhosa and isiZulu
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God Bless Africa)
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo, (Raise high Her glory)
Yizwa imithandazo yethu, (Hear our Prayers)
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo
(God bless us, we her children)

Sesotho
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, (God protect our nation)
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho, (End all wars and tribulations)
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, (Protect us, protect our nation)
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika. (Our nation South Africa - South Africa)

Afrikaans
Uit die blou van onse hemel, (Ringing out from our blue heavens)
Uit die diepte van ons see, (From the depth of our seas)
Oor ons ewige gebergtes, (Over our everlasting mountains)
Waar die kranse antwoord gee, (Where the echoing crags resound)

English
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land.