Commandant General's Medal

The Commandant General's Medal is a military medal that was instituted by the Commandant General of the South African Defence Force in 1965. It was awarded to the champion shot of the annual South African Defence Force Shooting Championships. The year the award was earned is shown on a bar that is worn on the ribbon and the award can be won multiple times, with each subsequent award indicated by an additional bar.

The South African military
The Union Defence Forces (UDF) were established in 1912 and renamed the South African Defence Force (SADF) in 1958. On 27 April 1994 it was integrated with six other independent forces into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

Orders, decorations and medals
In April 1952 a series of military decorations and medals was instituted, consisting of substitutes for many of the British and Commonwealth awards which had earlier been used. More decorations and medals, as well as an emblem for being mentioned in dispatches, were added between 1953 and 1970. In July 1975 the military decorations and medals of the Republic were revised. Some decorations and medals were carried over from the earlier series of 1952-1975 and new awards were instituted, followed by more between 1987 and 1991. Finally, all but one of these earlier awards were discontinued in respect of services performed on or after 27 April 2003, when a new set of nine decorations and medals was instituted to replace them.

Fount of Honour
Until 1958 the top three awards were reserved for conferment by the Queen while the rest were awarded by the Governor-General, but in 1958 the Governor-General was authorised to also award the top three. In 1961 the State President became the Fount of Honour, and in 1994 the President.

Award criteria for the Commandant General's Medal
From 1962 to 1975 the Commandant General's Medal was awarded to the overall champion shot of the annual South African Defence Force Shooting Championships by the Commandant General of the South African Defence Force and from 1973, after the post was assumed by Admiral Hugo Biermann and the title was changed, the Chief of the South African Defence Force. The year the award was earned is shown on a bar that is worn on the ribbon. The award could be won multiple times and each subsequent award was indicated by an additional bar.

Order of precedence
The position of the Commandant General's Medal in the official order of precedence was revised three times after 1975 to accommodate the inclusion or institution of new decorations and medals, first with the integration into the South African National Defence Force on 27 April 1994, again 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 with the institution of a new set of awards on 27 April 2003, but it remained unchanged on all three occasions.


 * Official SADF order of precedence:
 * Preceded by the Queen's Medal for Champion Shots of the United Kingdom.
 * Succeeded by the SADF Champion Shot Medal.


 * Official national order of precedence:
 * Preceded by the Queen's Medal for Champion Shots of the United Kingdom.
 * Succeeded by the SADF Champion Shot Medal.

The Queen's Medal for Champion Shots was omitted from the official order of precedence as published in Government Gazette no. 15093 on 3 September 1993, but included again in Government Gazette no. 27376 on 11 March 2005.

Description
The Commandant General's Medal is a medallion struck in silver, 3 millimetres thick at the centre and 38 millimetres in diameter, depicting the five-pointed outline of the Castle of Good Hope with a laurel between the two points at the bottom and proteas between the others. A roundel in the centre has crossed rifles over a shooting target with a shooting range in the background and is inscribed "KOMMANDANT-GENERAALSMEDALJE" and "COMMANDANT GENERAL'S MEDAL" below the target. The ribbon suspender is decorated with leaves.
 * Obverse

The reverse has the pre-1994 South African Coat of Arms and the medal number is stamped at the bottom of the medal on the rim.
 * Reverse

The ribbon is 32 millimetres wide with a 6 millimetres wide light blue band and a 7 millimetres wide dark orange band, repeated in reverse order and separated by a 6 millimetres wide navy blue band in the centre. Dark orange, light blue and navy blue are the colours of the three Arms of the Service, the South African Army, the South African Air Force and the South African Navy.
 * Ribbon

The bar is of silver and shows the year the award was earned.
 * Bar

Discontinuation
Even though officially sanctioned, the Commandant General and the Chief of the South African Defence Force are not official Founts of Honour. The Commandant General's Medal was discontinued in 1975 and replaced by the SADF Champion Shot Medal, instituted by the State President.