What the new R2 coins show, and why they are a first
Two new R2 coins have been launched in Pretoria, and they are the first South African circulation coins to carry the likeness of women.
The South African Reserve Bank unveiled them on Wednesday 26 August 2026. Governor Lesetja Kganyago launched them alongside Sindisiwe Chikunga, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.
One coin marks 125 years since Charlotte Mannya-Maxeke became the first black South African woman to graduate with a university degree. It carries a profile silhouette cameo of Maxeke in an Edwardian collar from 1910, with a design element drawn from the beads she wore in her early years.
The second marks 70 years since the 1956 Women’s March. It shows four women from different cultural backgrounds in the foreground, holding placards and facing the Union Buildings.
Kganyago said the coins honour a history of (cite index=”35-1″>”courage, service, defiance and duty”,</cite> and that currency carries public meaning beyond its practical use. He told the launch that (cite index=”40-1″>”These two coins are the first commemorative circulation coins to feature women”.</cite>
What the coins are worth, and where you will see them
This is the part worth being clear about, because commemorative coins are often assumed to be valuable.
They are not. Commemorative circulation coins carry no higher value than their face value, which means an R2 coin is worth R2 whether it shows the coat of arms or Charlotte Maxeke.
They are also circulation coins rather than collector pieces. That means they enter the ordinary money supply and will turn up in tills, taxi change, school tuck shops and household coin jars.
Kganyago made that the point of the exercise, saying the Bank looked forward to hearing more stories of women’s contributions as the coins are passed on in households, shops, taxis, schools and workplaces.
The launch sits outside the Reserve Bank’s better known work. Southafriworld has covered the Reserve Bank’s decision to hold the policy rate at 7% and how the Reserve Bank sets interest rates, which is the side of the institution most South Africans encounter.
The Milestones of Freedom series so far
The coins form part of the Milestones of Freedom programme, launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa in June 2026 under the theme “Honouring the past, delivering the future”.
| Denomination | Commemorates | Anniversary | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| R2 | School pupils who protested education policies in 1976 | 50 years | Released June 2026 |
| R2 | Charlotte Maxeke’s university graduation | 125 years | Launched 26 August 2026 |
| R2 | The 1956 Women’s March | 70 years | Launched 26 August 2026 |
| R2 | The signing of the Constitution | 30 years | Due later in 2026 |
| R5 | Education tribute, carrying the R2 designs on its reverse | Not applicable | Gazetted with the June set |
There is a wrinkle in the sequence. BusinessTech reported in June that the Reserve Bank had gazetted the specifications and designs of R2 coins commemorating 1976, Maxeke’s graduation and the Constitution, all to become legal tender on 16 June 2026.
Wednesday’s event presented the Maxeke and Women’s March coins as newly launched. Southafriworld could not obtain the gazette notice to reconcile the two accounts, and readers should treat the August date as the public launch rather than necessarily the legal tender date.
Cabinet approved the reverse designs under an education theme, and the Government Communication and Information System recorded that the 1956 Women’s March anniversary would be added to the commemorations.
Who Charlotte Maxeke was
Maxeke was born in Ga-Ramokgopa in Limpopo. According to the Reserve Bank, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Wilberforce University in the United States in 1901, and that dating is what the 125th anniversary rests on.
Kganyago said access to higher education for a black woman at that time was not simply limited but almost unimaginable, and described the graduation as an act of defiance against the limits placed on black people and on black women in particular.
She did not stop at the degree. In 1918 she founded the Bantu Women’s League and became its first president, mobilising African women against pass laws and confronting the government of then prime minister Louis Botha. She campaigned against low wages and took part in the formation of the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union in 1920.
Chikunga said Maxeke’s achievement went well beyond the academic, calling it a declaration that (cite index=”37-1″>”Black women were entitled to knowledge, dignity, leadership and equal participation”</cite> in society.
Kganyago pointed out that the 1956 march began at the State Theatre, across the road from the Reserve Bank’s head office, and moved through the streets around the Bank before reaching the Union Buildings. More than 20,000 women took part on 9 August 1956, protesting the extension of pass laws.
Among the guests at the launch was Neeshan Balton, executive director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, whose 1956 Izimbokodo project works to identify and record the 20,000 women who marched.
What is still to come
One more coin in the series is expected. The Reserve Bank said it will release a R2 coin later this year marking 30 years since the Constitution was signed into law. No date has been announced.
Kganyago used the launch to make a point about education that outlasts the coins. He said that in 1996, almost a century after Maxeke graduated, 6.7% of women in South Africa held a tertiary qualification, and that by 2022 the figure had reached 13.1%.
Those are the governor’s figures. Southafriworld has not independently verified them against the underlying Statistics South Africa series.
Several details remain unpublished. The Reserve Bank has not stated a mintage figure for either coin, has not named the designers, and has not said how long the coins will be struck for.
Kganyago thanked the South African Mint Company and the Bank’s currency management department for bringing the coins into circulation. The Constitution coin is the next release, and it is due before the end of 2026.
