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South African civil honours

Encyclopedia : S : SO : SOU : South African civil honours

An overview of South African civil orders, decorations and medals, which form part of the South African honours system.

Contents

Union of South Africa

The Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, as a self-governing dominion in the British Empire. A medal was issued to commemorate the event.

As a dominion, the Union came under the British honours system, and South Africans featured in the semi-annual British honours lists. South Africans also received British civilian decorations for bravery. The nationalist government stopped the conferment of titles and orders in 1925, and discontinued nominations for bravery awards after the Union's independence was recognised in 1931. It established its own bravery award a few years later.

The Union's civil honours thus consisted of:

When South Africa established its own independent honours system in 1952, the Queen's Medal for Bravery was transferred to it. The medal issued to mark Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 was also ranked as a South African award, because Her Majesty was Queen of South Africa as well as of the United Kingdom and her other realms and territories.

Republic of South Africa

South Africa became a republic and left the Commonwealth in 1961.

1967-1986

During the 1960s and 1970s, the government developed a small range of civil honours to recognise bravery and meritorious service:

1986-2002

The civil honours system was enlarged during the 1980s. In 1986, the five orders were collectively dubbed the "national orders", and a Chancery of Orders was established in the Office of the State President to administer them.These were retained after South Africa's return to the Commonwealth of Nations in 1994. The expanded honours system comprised:

2002-

The "old South African" honours were retained for a few years after the Republic was reconstituted as a democratic state in 1994. The sports awards were, however, replaced immediately. A new series of national orders was introduced in 2002, as part of the process of creating new national symbols. The current civil honours are:

References

Alexander, E. G. M., Barron G. K. B. and Bateman, A. J. (1986). South African Orders, Decorations and Medals. Human and Rousseau.

Monick, S. (1990). South African Civil Awards 1910-1990. South African National Museum of Military History.

See also

External links

 

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