Country Bophuthatswana Established 1988 | Status Discontinued in 1994 | |
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Type Military decoration for merit Next (higher) BDF precedence:
Defence Force Commendation Medal
SANDF precedence:
Defence Force Medal Next (lower) BDF succession:
Nkwe Medal
SANDF succession:
Defence Force Medal | ||
The Marumo Medal, Class II was instituted by the State President of the Republic of Bophuthatswana in 1988.
Contents
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 Marumo Medal, Class II was instituted by the State President of Bophuthatswana in 1988. It is the junior award of a set of two, along with the Marumo Medal, Class I.
"Marumo" can be translated as "fight" or "fighting", adopted into Setswana from a command used by Shaka Zulu.
Award criteria
The medal could be awarded for merit in action.
Order of wear
Since the Marumo Medal, Class II 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 Marumo Medal, Class II 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 Marumo Medal, Class II is a medallion struck in silver, 38 millimetres in diameter and 3 millimetres thick at the rim, with an encircled silver cross in a square frame in the centre, surrounded by eight green enameled triangles, the whole depicting four green-tipped arrows or spears arranged as a cross.
The reverse has the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Bophuthatswana.
The ribbon is 32 millimetres wide and cobalt blue, with two three-coloured bands, spaced 10 millimetres apart and 3 millimetres from each edge, each consisting of a 1 millimetre wide green band, a 1 millimetre wide cobalt blue band, a 4 millimetres wide yellow band, a 1 millimetre wide cobalt blue band and a 1 millimetre wide green band.
Discontinuation
Conferment of the Marumo Medal, Class II was discontinued when the Republic of Bophuthatswana ceased to exist on 27 April 1994.