Pietermaritzburg's full achievement of arms

An achievement of arms consists of a shield, and one of more of the following: a crest and wreath, a motto, a helmet and mantling, supporters, a compartment, and insignia. Badges and standards are seldom included in South African achievements, though the Bureau of Heraldry has registered them for a number of foreign applicants.

Shield
Many arms, especially those of schools and army units, consist only of a shield. There are currently three patterns in general use: (i) the "heater" shape, (ii) the oval or almond-shaped Nguni (Xhosa and Zulu) shield, and (iii) the Tswana or Sotho shield. To a lesser extent, the oval cartouche and the lozenge are also used, particularly in the arms of women.

Crest and Wreath
Personal, corporate and municipal arms usually have crests. They are less frequent in the arms of schools and official arms, and are seldom if ever found in military arms. Modern crests appear to be designed on the principle that they should be capable of being worn on a real-life helmet. The crest is usually depicted as arising from within a wreath of the colours

Strictly speaking, a crest should have a helmet to support it, but there are a good many emblazonments (including Bureau of Heraldry artwork) which omit the helmet and place the crest and wreath directly on top of the shield. There are also arms whose blazons describe the shields as being ensigned of various charges (without wreaths), which are often referred to as "crests". It would be contrary to the blazon to depict such arms with helmets.

Coronets are sometimes used instead of crests, or as the basis of crests. They do not indicate nobility, but are purely crest coronets, and many original designs have been created in recent years. The new provincial arms are ensigned with coronets, and many local authorities have mural crowns.

Motto
Many coats of arms include motto scrolls, and the Bureau of Heraldry registers the motto as part of the blazon (though this doesn't give exclusive use of the motto in itself, and several mottoes have been registered by more than one owner). Latin is probably the most popular language for mottoes.

Helmet and Mantling
The helmet, with attached mantling, is included in many coats of arms but, naturally, not those which use African shields. There are currently four types in use: (i) the closed tournament helm, (ii) the barred helm, (iii) the barrel helm, and (iv) the closed-visor armet. They do not indicate social position as they would in England and Scotland. Since 1982, they have been oriented to match the direction of the crest, i.e. either facing the front or else turned towards the dexter. Prior to 1982, British practice was followed and the helmet was turned to dexter whether this matched the direction of the crest or not.

In the Dutch colonial days the barred helmet, facing the front, was widely used by all ranks, but when the British arrived in the 1790s, they added their system of using different patterns of helmets, facing in different directions, to indicate social status. This appears to have exerted a strong influence on South African practice, for the dexter-facing tournament helm (the British pattern for organisations and for "commoners") eventually became the norm, and the other three patterns mentioned above did not come back into use as alternatives to it until the 1970s and later. Even since then, the tournament helm has remained far and away the most popular, and the other three patterns are used fairly seldom, and usually by Afrikaners, or armigers of European rather than British origin.

In the Dutch colonial period, the colour of the mantling seems to have been arbitrary. Today, the mantling is usually in the principal colour of the shield, lined in the principal metal. However, often if the shield is divided per fess or per chevron, then the tincture of the lower half is used, and if there is a chief, then its tincture is used. In Bureau of Heraldry artwork, mantling on personal arms usually has a gold or silver tassel hanging from the lower end on each side of the shield.

Supporters
In line with European and British tradition, supporters are largely confined to official arms, the arms of large municipalities and organisations, and to royalty, the aristocracy, baronets and high-ranking knights. Very few "commoners" - to use the British term - have supporters to their arms, and it appears that only about one-tenth of the arms on the database of arms registered at the Bureau of Heraldry include supporters.

Animals (especially indigenous varieties) are popular choices but, in the case of regional services councils (now called district municipalities), supporters are always birds.

SA herald's baton (head)

Insignia
The addition of insignia of office to arms seems to be confined to the State Herald and members of the Heraldry Council, who place crossed herald's batons behind their shields. Some municipal arms which are depicted on African shields have a crossed assegai and knobkierie (war-club) behind the shield as symbols of authority.

Senior clergymen, e.g. bishops, place the symbols of their offices behind their shields, according to the practices in their respective churches. High-ranking knights of the Order of St John and the Order of St Lazarus display the insignia of their respective orders on their arms, and the Bureau of Heraldry has registered a few arms with these insignia.

It is common practice in many countries for recipients of orders and decorations to drape the insignia around, or below, their shields, and there seems to be no reason why recipients of South African honours and awards should not do the same.