In the aftermath of the end of the Apartheid, South Africa was readmitted as a participant in the Olympic Games. In early 1996 SAA was about to take delivery of an ex-Singapore Airlines 747, and the Red Nail Design agency was commissioned by the airline to create a special livery on the occasion of both the campaign for the Cape Town candidacy for the 2004 Olympics (later awarded to Athens) and to support the National Olympic Team for the 1996 Atlanta Games. The scheme itself used the 6 colours of the new flag of the country adopted in 1994, and was designed to convey the friendship values in the aftermath of the Africa Cup of Nations held in the country in March 1996. "Ndizani" is Zulu for "Soaring to new heights". The aircraft carried the South African athletes to the Atlanta Games the following Summer and was kept long after Cape Town lost its bid for the 2004 Games, becoming the obvious aircraft of choice for all SAA PR duties. Ndizani was also known locally as the "Smarties Box".
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