General Service Medal (Bophuthatswana)
[1][2] The Bophuthatswana Defence Force (BDF) was established upon that country's independence on 6 December 1977.[1] Since the General Service 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 General Service Medal in the official order of precedence was revised twice after 1994, to accommodate the inclusion or institution of new decorations and medals, first in April 1996 when decorations and medals were belatedly instituted for the two former non-statutory forces, the Azanian People's Liberation Army and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and again upon the institution of a new set of honours on 27 April 2003.[6] The General Service Medal is a medallion struck in nickel-silver, 38 millimetres in diameter and 3 millimetres thick at the rim, displaying the leopard emblem of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force surrounded by a laurel wreath.[1][8] Conferment of the General Service Medal was discontinued when the Republic of Bophuthatswana ceased to exist on 27 April 1994.