Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Silver explained

Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Silver
Presenter:the State President
Country: Bophuthatswana
Type:Military long service medal
Eligibility:All ranks
Awarded For:Twenty years service and good conduct
Status:Discontinued in 1994
Established:1982
Precedence Label:BDF pre-1994 & SANDF post-2002 orders of wear
Higher:
Lower:

The Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Silver was instituted by the State President of the Republic of Bophuthatswana in 1982, for award to all ranks as a long service medal for twenty years service and good conduct.[1] [2]

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).[3] [4]

Institution

The Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Silver was instituted by the State President of Bophuthatswana in 1982. It is the middle award of a set of three medals for long service and good conduct, along with the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Gold and the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Bronze.[1] [5]

Bophuthatswana's military decorations and medals were modelled on those of the Republic of South Africa and these three medals are the approximate equivalents of, respectively, the Good Service Medal, Gold, the Good Service Medal, Silver and the Good Service Medal, Bronze.

Award criteria

The medal could be awarded to all ranks for twenty years service and good conduct.[1]

Order of wear

Since the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Silver 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.

Bophuthatswana Defence Force until 26 April 1994:
South African National Defence Force from 27 April 1994:

The position of the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Silver 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.[6]

Description

ObverseThe Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Silver is a medallion struck in silver, 38 millimetres in diameter and 3 millimetres thick at the rim, with a 4 millimetres wide raised rim and displaying the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Bophuthatswana. The suspender depicts the horns of the Malete (African buffalo).[7]
RibbonThe ribbon is 32 millimetres wide and light brown, with two 4 millimetres wide green bands in the centre, spaced 8 millimetres apart.[1]

Discontinuation

Conferment of the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct, Silver was discontinued when the Republic of Bophuthatswana ceased to exist on 27 April 1994.[4]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.geocities.ws/militaf/milbop.htm South African Medal Website - Bophuthatswana Defence Force
  2. http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Bophuthatswana_Constitution.pdf Republic of Bophuthatswana Constitution Act, 1977
  3. (Accessed 1 May 2015)
  4. Warrant of the President of the Republic of South Africa for the Institution of the "UNITAS MEDAL-UNITAS-MEDALJE", Gazette no. 16087 dated 25 November 1994.
  5. http://www.geocities.ws/militaf/legal.htm South African Medal Website - Legal aspects - Fount of Honour
  6. Republic of South Africa Government Gazette Vol. 477, no. 27376, Pretoria, 11 March 2005,
  7. http://www.army.mil.za/aboutus/uniform/formerforcesmedals/bophuthatswana.htm Uniform: SA Army: Former Forces Medals - Bophuthatswana Defence Force (BDF)