Order of Mapungubwe
Encyclopedia
The Order of Mapungubwe is South Africa
's highest honour. It was instituted on 6 December 2002, and is granted by the president
of South Africa, for achievements in the international area which have served South Africa's interests. The order originally had three classes, and was enlarged to four in 2004:
The order is named after Mapungubwe
, an ancient African nation which existed a thousand years ago in what is now the northern part of the Limpopo province.
The badge is a horizontal oval above an inverted trapezium. Inside the oval frame is depicted a golden rhinoceros with the sun rising above Mapungubwe hill in the background. The convex upper edge of the trapezium is decorated with a beadwork pattern and the sides are edged with sceptres. In the centre is an ornate crucible from which molten gold flows down to a red furnace. The South African coat of arms
is displayed on the reverse.
The ribbon is gold, edged with a line of cream-coloured bead-like dots along each edge, and recurring cream-coloured rhinoceros silhouettes down the centre. All four classes are worn around the neck.
The first recipient of the order (in the Platinum class) was ex-president Nelson Mandela
.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
's highest honour. It was instituted on 6 December 2002, and is granted by the president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of South Africa, for achievements in the international area which have served South Africa's interests. The order originally had three classes, and was enlarged to four in 2004:
- Platinum (OMP), for exceptional and unique achievements,
- Gold (OMG), for exceptional achievements,
- Silver (OMS), for excellent achievements,
- Bronze (OMB), for outstanding achievements.
The order is named after Mapungubwe
Mapungubwe
After Mapungubwe's fall, it was forgotten until 1932. On New Year's Eve 1932, E. S. J. van Graan, a local farmer and prospector, and his son, a former student of the University of Pretoria, discovered the wealth of artifacts on top of the hill. They reported the find to Professor Leo...
, an ancient African nation which existed a thousand years ago in what is now the northern part of the Limpopo province.
The badge is a horizontal oval above an inverted trapezium. Inside the oval frame is depicted a golden rhinoceros with the sun rising above Mapungubwe hill in the background. The convex upper edge of the trapezium is decorated with a beadwork pattern and the sides are edged with sceptres. In the centre is an ornate crucible from which molten gold flows down to a red furnace. The South African coat of arms
Coat of arms of South Africa
The present coat of arms of South Africa was introducedon Freedom Day April 27, 2000. It replaced the earlier national arms, which had been in use since 1910. The motto ǃke e: ǀxarra ǁke is written in the Khoisan language of the ǀXam people and translates literally to "diverse people unite"...
is displayed on the reverse.
The ribbon is gold, edged with a line of cream-coloured bead-like dots along each edge, and recurring cream-coloured rhinoceros silhouettes down the centre. All four classes are worn around the neck.
The first recipient of the order (in the Platinum class) was ex-president Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
.
2002
- Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
- Platinum (national reconciliation and nation-building) - Allan Cormack - Gold (scientist credited for co-inventing the cat-scan)
- FW de Klerk - Gold (national reconciliation and nation-building)
- Basil SchonlandBasil SchonlandSir Basil Ferdinand Jamieson Schonland CBE FRS was the first president of the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.-Birth and Parentage:...
- Gold (physicist and founding president of the Council for Scientific and Industrial ResearchCouncil for Scientific and Industrial ResearchThe Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is South Africa's central and premier scientific research and development organisation. It was established by an act of parliament in 1945 and is situated on its own campus in the city of Pretoria...
) - Peter BeightonPeter BeightonPeter Herbert Beighton, a medical geneticist, was born in Lancashire in England in 1934 and qualified in medicine in 1957 at the University of London's St Mary's Hospital. After several internships, Beighton served as a Medical Officer in the Parachute Regiment and with the United Nations forces...
- Bronze (research into the inherited disorders of the skeleton) - Hamilton NakiHamilton NakiHamilton Naki was a black laboratory assistant to white cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard in South Africa under apartheid...
- Bronze (medical science)
2004
- Sydney BrennerSydney BrennerSydney Brenner, CH FRS is a South African biologist and a 2002 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate, shared with H...
- Gold (medical science) - Tshilidzi MarwalaTshilidzi MarwalaTshilidzi Marwala born 28 July 1971 in Venda, Limpopo South Africa is a Dean of Engineering at the University of Johannesburg.-Academic career:...
- Bronze (engineering science) - Batmanathan Dayanand Reddy - Bronze (mathematics and science)
2005
- John Maxwell CoetzeeJohn Maxwell CoetzeeJohn Maxwell Coetzee ; is an author and academic from South Africa. He is now an Australian citizen and lives in Adelaide, South Australia...
- Gold (literature) - Aaron KlugAaron KlugSir Aaron Klug, OM, PRS is a Lithuanian-born British chemist and biophysicist, and winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes.-Biography:Klug was...
- Gold (medical science) - Frank Reginald Nunes NabarroFrank NabarroFrank Reginald Nunes Nabarro MBE OMS FRS was an English-born South African physicist and one of the pioneers of solid-state physics, which underpins much of 21st century technology.-Education:...
- Silver - Tebello Nyokong - Bronze (research into the development of cancer treatments)
- Himladevi Soodyall - Bronze
2006
- Selig Percy AmoilsSelig Percy AmoilsSelig Percy Amoils, FRCS, born 1933, is a South African ophthalmologist and biomedical engineering inventor. In 1965, Amoils refined the cryoextraction method of cataract surgery by developing a cryoprobe that was cooled through the Joule-Thomson effect of gas expansion...
- Silver (pioneering medical achievements) - George Ellis - Silver (mathematics and science)
- Lionel Opie - Silver (knowledge and achievements in the field of cardiology)
- Professor Patricia Berjak- Silver ( Seed biologist)
2007
- Claire Penn - Silver (speech and language pathology, sign language, aphasiaAphasiaAphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
) - Sibusiso Sibisi - Silver (information technology, R&D)
- Valerie Mizrahi - Silver (biochemistry and molecular biology, including TB drug validation)
2008
- Doris LessingDoris LessingDoris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
- Gold (literature, contributing to the elimination of colonialism and apartheid) - Douglas Butterworth - Silver (betterment of the environment and sustainability of fisheries)
- Wieland Gevers - Silver (higher education and medicine)
- Phuti Ngoepe - Silver (natural sciences, development of computer Modelling studies at the University of Limpopo)
- Tim Noakes - Silver
- Pragasen Pillay - Silver (energy conservation)