The sun – usually rising, occasionally setting – occurs in several South African coats of arms. The oldest sun is probably that of the East London City Council. But similar rising suns are also to be found in the arms of the University of Fort Hare and the Border Technikon, while the Eastern Cape Province has a rising sun in its crest.

A sun full in the sky is seen in the arms of Morningside High School.

It is traditional in heraldry for the sun to be represented by a gold roundel or half-roundel (as above) with rays in the form of alternating (straight) piles (triangular projections) and wavy piles, or wavy piles alone. But outside the heraldic tradition, rays are often shown as being trapezoid beams radiating from the round sun. An example of this is the setting sun in the arms of Westerford High School.

An entirely different tradition is found in the arms of Chinese High School, Port Elizabeth. The sun in these arms is copied from the flag of the Republic of China, and is a white roundel with short white triangles around its edge.