Cats of many kinds are to be found in the continent of Africa. Perhaps the best known of them is one that was noticed by Crusaders venturing to Mediterranean lands and remarked on for its bravery: the lion, known in Latin as Leo leo. The Crusaders took note of these hunters, and remarked on their noble characters. (African tradition takes a different view of what Europeans call the King of Beasts, but that is another story.)
A recent survey of mediæval coat-armour showed that while lions were greatly popular in both Britain and Germany, it was in the Low Countries that they achieved their highest level of acceptance into armory. So it is no surprise to find that a lion was chosen for the arms of the Cape Colony to represent England, Scotland and the Netherlands, all of which feature lions in their arms. Cape Town, when it elaborated on its arms in the 1870s, adopted a lion supporter. Its red colour indicates the same European connections, although it can also be seen as representing the wild lions that roamed in the vicinity of Table Mountain 300 years ago. Rondebosch, although founded soon after Cape Town, only became a municipality in the 1880s. In its “coat of arms” it also had a lion supporter. The Cape Province also used the Cape Colony’s lion, although better drawn.

Perhaps the heralds in London had the colour of Cape Town’s lion in mind when they granted the Union of South Africa a crest of a red lion statant gardant, holding with its dexter paw a bundle of four staves. It looked rather sad at its original appearance in 1910, but was progressively better drawn in its 1930 and 1932 versions. The 1932 version is the most mediæval in appearance, which has a positive side in that it adheres most closely to the heraldic tradition, but a negative, too, in that it didn’t look all that much like a natural African lion.

On the other hand, the lion was chosen as a symbol of wild Africa for the arms of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek and the Transvaal Province, as well as for the seal (incorporated into the arms) of the Oranje Vrij Staat. It also made its appearance in the flag badge of the Transvaal Colony, and two of them – now at last rampant – are now to be found as supporters in the arms of Gauteng. And in October 2004, KwaZulu-Natal adopted arms incorporating the lions supporter of KwaZulu.

Grahamstown, founded on the wild frontier in 1814, adopted in 1862 a coat of arms incorporating a leopard (Leo pardus) as supporter, to symbolise its wild creatures. These arms were taken over, but with altered colours, by the town’s boys’ and girls’ public schools, now known as Graeme College and Victoria Girls’ High School. When the City of Grahamstown obtained a grant of arms in 1912, the leopard was retained, but had added, as a mark of difference, a red scallop shell on its shoulder. Rondebosch similarly had a leopard for a supporter, although this was merely a recollection of its days on the wild frontier, back in the 1660s.

In the African tradition the leopard is the symbol of royalty. Three of the four Bantustan states that took their “independence” from South Africa in the last years of apartheid adopted arms with pairs of leopard supporters. Ciskei and Bophuthatswana both had their leopards gardant, or facing the viewer, while Transkei’s faced each other.

The fastest animal on four legs (over short distances) is the cheetah, or Acinonyx jubatus. Free State Province adopted the cheetah as its symbol, and has two of them as supporters. The Free State rugby team is also known as the Cheetahs.