Country Bophuthatswana Status Discontinued in 1994 | Eligibility All Ranks Established 1982 | |
Type Military decoration for merit Awarded for Service of a high standard | ||
The Defence Force Commendation Medal was instituted by the State President of the Republic of Bophuthatswana in 1982. It could be awarded to all ranks for service of a high standard.
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The Bophuthatswana Defence Force
The Bophuthatswana Defence Force (BDF) was established upon that country's independence on 6 December 1977. The Republic of Bophuthatswana ceased to exist on 27 April 1994 and the Bophuthatswana Defence Force was amalgamated with six other military forces into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
Institution
The Defence Force Commendation Medal was instituted by the State President of Bophuthatswana in 1982. It is the junior award of a set of three decorations for merit, along with the Defence Force Merit Decoration and the Defence Force Merit Medal.
Bophuthatswana's military decorations and medals were modelled on those of the Republic of South Africa and these three decorations are the approximate equivalents of, respectively, the Southern Cross Decoration and Pro Merito Decoration, the Southern Cross Medal (1975) and Pro Merito Medal (1975), and the Military Merit Medal.
Award criteria
The medal could be awarded to all ranks for service of a high standard.
Order of wear
Since the Defence Force Commendation Medal was authorised for wear by one of the statutory forces which came to be part of the South African National Defence Force on 27 April 1994, it was accorded a position in the official South African order of precedence on that date.
The position of the Defence Force Commendation Medal in the order of precedence remained unchanged, as it was on 27 April 1994, when decorations and medals were belatedly instituted in April 1996 for the two former non-statutory forces, the Azanian People's Liberation Army and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and again when a new series of military orders, decorations and medals was instituted in South Africa on 27 April 2003.
Description
The Defence Force Commendation Medal is a medallion struck in bronze, 38 millimetres in diameter, with an encircled leopard head in the centre and four double-ended arrow symbols around the perimeter. The undecorated suspender is attached to the medal by a double-ended arrow symbol beneath four converging lines.
The reverse displays the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Bophuthatswana.
The ribbon is 32 millimetres wide and cobalt blue, with two 4 millimetres wide yellow bands in the centre, spaced 8 millimetres apart.
Discontinuation
Conferment of the Defence Force Commendation Medal was discontinued when the Republic of Bophuthatswana ceased to exist on 27 April 1994.