South Africa: The Order of Good Hope 1
2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/09592290701322630
ISSN1557-301X
Autores Tópico(s)Religion, Society, and Development
ResumoAbstract Past South African governments already felt the need for honours as instruments of diplomacy in the 1930s, but only instituted the Order of Good Hope in 1973. Inherited British attitudes to honours, the cessation in 1925 of the award of honours bearing titles, and long periods in which civilian honours were not awarded contributed to its frugal use. Wishing to recognize foreign assistance to the liberation movements, from 1994 President Mandela frequently put the Order to use, freely awarding leaders of foreign governments. However, restraint returned after the initial surge. Since instituting new orders in 2003, President Mbeki has emphasised substantial merit as the key to admission. "Yes, I should have given more praise." The Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon, became Commander-in-Chief and later Prime Minister of Great Britain, when asked whether there was anything in his life that he could have done better. Notes 1. Sincere thanks are due for help and advice from retired Ambassadors Jeremy B. Shearar and Tom Wheeler and Mr. C.J. Muller, Archivist of the Department of Foreign Affairs, to Miss Louise Jooste, Director, and Mr. Steve de Agrela, Archivist, Documentation Services, Department of Defence, and to other former members of the South African Foreign Service who gave valuable advice. 2. The American Medal of Honor (1862), at first lavishly awarded, is now less freely awarded, with only one posthumous award during the campaign in Iraq (2003). Total awards number 3,459 (plus nine to "Unknown Soldiers" of various countries). Initially sparingly granted, during the two World Wars the German Eiserne Kreuz (Iron Cross) instituted in 1813 for bravery was awarded to more than eight million soldiers. M. Crook, The Evolution of the Victoria Cross, a Study in Administrative History (Turnbridge Wells: Midas Books, 1975), passim. W. O. Hütte, Die Geschichte der Eisernen Kreuzes (Bonn: Rheinishe Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität, 1968), passim. E. Kerrigan, American Medals and Decorations, New York: Mallard Press, 1990); http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor. 3. One exception known to the writer was that of the South African ambassador, Archibald Gardner Dunn. He did not offer his life in some venture that put him at risk but was abducted in El Salvador. However, characteristically, the rather hard bitten "Eddie" Dunn, a Second World War veteran of the SA Air Force, was overheard defiantly saying to his abductors as they tried to make him prisoner "You can go to hell!" His fate remains unknown and the Grand Cross of the Order of Good Hope was conferred on him posthumously. 4. R. Werlich, Russian Orders, Decorations and Medals: Imperial Russia, the Provisional Government & the Soviet Union (Washington, DC: Quaker Press, 1968), p. 10. 5. Sir Ivan De la Bere, The Queen's Orders of Chivalry (London: Spring Books, 1964), p. 89. 6. In 1931 the Statute of Westminster made it clear that the Commonwealth Dominions were equal in status to the United Kingdom. The British parliament could not legislate for South Africa and the legally separate Crown in South Africa was confirmed. The King of South Africa was represented by the Governor-General, no longer regarded as the agent of the British government. Statute of Westminster 1931. Act 22 & 23 Geo. V c. 4, 11 December 1931 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. 7. For example, the Commissioner of the South African Police, Major-General R. J. Palmer, DSO, was appointed to the Royal Victorian Order, as were other police officers, for the police's role in the security of the Royal Family. The Royal Victorian Order is conferred as the Monarch chooses and it is not controlled by the British Prime Minister's office. 8. The Order of Merit, although of very high precedence, was a British order with no rank or title. Since the South African Parliament's request in 1925 to the Monarch not to grant titles to South Africans resident in South Africa, the OM was very appropriate for granting the highest honour to South Africans. Hence, the admission of President Nelson Mandela to the OM was almost inevitable. When South Africa became a republic, admission to orders bearing titles was no longer a problem. Since only associate membership of orders is granted to persons not subjects of the Monarch, the titles are not used. P. Hieronymussen, Orders, Medals and Decorations of Britain and Europe (London: Blandford Press, 1975). 9. During the Colonial and Dominion periods, the only "South African" honours were a limited range of colonial versions of British military medals for bravery and merit for non-commissioned officers and men and long service medals. In 1953, Royal Warrants (i.e., instruments equivalent to Executive Orders under the Monarch's signature) for a series of military decorations and medals for bravery, merit, and long service were approved by Queen Elizabeth II. This was one of a variety of steps by the Minister of Defence, F. C. Erasmus, to divorce the Defence Force from any British complexion. Honours were the head of state's prerogative and since 1960 this has been expressly mentioned in the republican constitutions. 10. A random selection of "republican" politicians who applied for the medal in 1953, included Avril Malan, the governing party's Leader of the House of Assembly, Nicolaas Diedericks (later a Minister and then President), J. F. Naudé (Minister of Finance), Dr. D. F. Malan (Prime Minister), and Dr. A. L. Geyer, the High Commissioner in London during the Coronation—both of whom attended the Coronation. C. R. Owen, The South African Medal Role of the 1935 Jubilee Medal, 1937 Coronation Medal, 1953 Coronation Medal (Benoni: Chimperie Press, 1982), passim. 11. Examples of senior diplomats listed by Owen as recipients of the 1953 Coronation Medal were G. P. Jooste High Commissioner in London from April 1954 and later head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassadors Anthony Hamilton and Robert Kirsten and also C. H. Torrance a senior Treasury official who was head of administration at South Africa House, London. Owen, op. cit., passim. 12. The Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (South African Republic), also known as the Transvaal, was the official title of the republic established in the interior of South Africa, between the Vaal and the Limpopo Rivers, in the mid-nineteenth century by Cape Boer trekkers. It existed until annexed at the end of the Anglo–Boer War on 31 May 1902. 13. Similar precedents were relied on in later years by Ambassador R. H. Coaton to sustain an argument for an order. He mentioned that in his brief presidency the tragic figure President Thomas Burgers became a Knight of the Portuguese Ordem Militar da Torre e Espada, a Knight Grand Cross of the Belgian Ordre de Léopold and of the Orde de Nederlanse Leeuw. In the Orange Free State, President Jan Brand was admitted to the Portuguese Ordem Militar de Christo (1876) and became a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1883. He was thereafter known as Sir John Brand. Although born a British subject, he was president of a foreign state. President Paul Kruger refused the GCMG because he believed he would have to use the title "Sir." Both presidents Reitz and Steyn of the OFS refused to be Knights Grand Cross of the Orde de Nederlandse Leeuw although no title was appended to that order. M. Esterhuysen, Gedenkpennings ter Ere van President SJP Kruger, Nasionale Kultuurhistoriese Museum, Pretoria, 1973, pp. 7–19. On 18 May 2000 President Thabo Mbeki was admitted to the Order of Michael and St George as an honorary Knight Grand Cross and did not have to call himself Sir Thabo. 14. Notulen van den Eersten Volksraad der ZA Republiek, 1894, Artikel 204, "Voorstel van Wet op het instellen eener Ridderorde voor de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek," pp. 311–312, and Artikel 719. In her biography of W. J. Leyds, Kruger's State Secretary, L. E. van Niekerk unquestioningly accepts the allegations by the editor of the Pretoria newspaper Land en Volk, Jan Cilliers, who worked to scupper the institution of an order. Cilliers opposed Kruger's presidency, particularly for his use of young intellectuals from the Netherlands as senior officials. In a leading article he maliciously accused Kruger of intending to introduce the titles of duke, count, marques and the like. See "Voorstel van Wet op het Instellen van een Adelstand voor de ZAR," (i.e., "Bill to Introduce Nobility in the ZAR"), Land en Volk, 6 September 1894.) There were no such provisions in the Bill. See the minutes of the Volksraad. The article was clearly an attempt to ridicule Leyds, another one of Kruger's young Hollanders appointed as State Secretary and only 35 years old to boot. L. E. Van Niekerk, Kruger se Regterhand—Biografie van Dr WJ Leyds (Pretoria: JL van Schaik, 1985), pp. 184–185. 15. Referred to in a memorandum "Proposed South African Decoration for Citizens of Foreign Countries," 113/35/4 dated 25 November 1970, signed by R. H. Coaton. 16. See E. G. M. Alexander et al., South African Orders, Decorations and Medals, (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1986), for a full description of the honours eventually adopted. One of the Royal Warrants for eleven decorations and medals instituted in 1953 by the new Queen Elizabeth II, on the advice of her South African government continued in force until the introduction by President Mbeki of new decorations and medals in 2003. See "President's Minute No. 243" and attached Presidential Warrants dated 16 April 2003, Government Gazette, No. 25213 dated 25 July 2003. The Governor-General, as the Queen's representative had no authority to institute honours, the prerogative solely of the Monarch. 17. The various provisions in the South African constitutions only date from the institution of the republic, since the prerogatives were previously the Monarch's (the King or the Queen of South Africa), not the Governor-General's. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1961 and the Constitution Act of 1983. Section 84(2)(k) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996) now prevails. 18. "Government Notice No. 2004" of the 27 December 1963, entitled "Rules for the Acceptance and Wearing of Foreign Awards of Honour by South African Citizens," stipulated that "2. (b) Permission will not be granted to—(i) South African diplomatic, consular and other representatives abroad when leaving their stations on transfer or final retirement; and (ii) officers of the State visiting foreign countries officially or otherwise." Government Gazette, No.684 of 27 December 1963. These provisions were omitted from the Rules from 1980 onwards. Government Gazette, No. 7267 of 24 October 1980, and Government Gazette, No. 10106 of 28 February 1986—which has never been brought up to date. 19. The minute dated 4 September 1969, appears on 113/35/4, volume 1. The members of the Committee were the Secretaries of the Prime Minister's Office, the Interior, Justice, and Cultural Affairs, as well as the Commandant-General of the Defence Force and the Commissioner of Police. 20. Memorandum "Proposed South African Decoration for Citizens of Foreign Countries," 113/35/4 dated 25 November 1970. There is reference in this memorandum to Cabinet Memoranda P.M. 20/35‐20/3‐20/18‐20/7 dated 26 March 1963, and MB C2 (38) 10A of 30 September 1969 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which raised question of how to honour heads of state, diplomats and meritorious foreigners. A minute by C. H. Taljaard, Chief of Protocol, to the Interdepartmental Committee emphasized that the author of the paper had devoted "much study" to the question. 113/35/4PRO. 21. Originally based on the concept of devout knights formed as brotherhoods of soldier-monks during the Crusades, orders, when constituted according to custom, are associations of members organised hierarchically. After the Crusades, the concept was secularised into military and ceremonial orders, to which members were admitted for meritorious conduct in war or in service to the monarch, e.g., the Spanish Order of Calatrava established in 1158, and the British Most Noble Order of the Garter founded in 1348. While the older orders consisted of only one class, Napoleon's Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur (instituted on 29 Floréal of the Year X of the Revolution, that is, 19 May 1802) established the concept of five classes or ranks through which members could be promoted for continuing merit. This has been followed widely by other countries. Rather than being mere badges, the honour they bestow is that of admission to one of the classes or ranks of rather exclusive associations—which have fewer members higher in the hierarchy. See G. A. Ackermann, Ordensbuch—sämtlicher in Europa blühender und erloschener Orden und Ehrenzeichen, Reprint (Leipzig: Verlag Leipzig, n.d. (1855)); Administration des Monnaies et Medailles, Décorations Officielles Françaises, (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1956); P. Hieronymussen, Orders, Medals and Decorations of Britain and Europe (London: Blandford Press, 1975). 22. Memorandum dated 3 December 1970, on the design. Cabinet Memorandum sent in February 1971, to all Ministers and another of 10 February, requested Cabinet approval, MB5/1/1 (C2) (44). A letter to the Mint, on 4 March 1971, warned of the demands the insignia would set and resulted in manufacturing simplification. On 5 March 1971 quotations for ribands were requested from the well-known British manufacturer, Toye & Co. A note to the Chief of Protocol of 8 March 1971, asked for the manufacture of a Register. The Warrant, drafted by Coaton, was not sent to the Interdepartmental Committee until 8 June. Only the Defence Force responded, enquiring about the absence of provisions for presenting examples of insignia to museums, the wearing of insignia by women, the cancellation of appointments, and for the cessation of wearing the insignia of lower classes upon promotion within the order. They expressed a preference for the more standard five classes, with the fifth class of Member. Finally, they enquired about the absence of provision for what was wrongly called "post-nominal titles," more correctly "post-nominal abbreviations." To the latter enquiry Taljaard simply replied that the Order would not be associated with titles although post-nominal abbreviations had originally been contemplated. Tender Board approval was requested on 17 September 1971 and Treasury authority to establish a new item under Sub-head "E" was requested on 7 October 1971. The Language Services Bureau was sent the Warrant on the 23 September. 23. Cabinet Minute No. 275 dated 22 February 1973, asked for an order to be instituted for "foreigners who had distinguished themselves in the mutual advancement of international relations between the countries they represented and South Africa." File 113/35/4 (32). "Warrant relating to the Order of Good Hope," No.R311 dated 2 March 1973, Government Gazette, No. 3793 of 2 March 1973. On 23 March 1973, the Secretary sent a note verbale to all heads of foreign missions in Pretoria enclosing a copy of the Government Gazette of the 2 March. See also Warrant dated 18 December 1986, Government Gazette, No. 10574, vol. 259, dated 9 January 1987. 24. Minute HSP (2) 104/13/1/14 of the 27 September 1978. 25. Designs were forwarded by Cabinet Minute to the State President, 17 October 1978. The Warrant "to institute a civilian section [sic] of the Order of the Star of South Africa," signed by the Minister of Defence and the State President, B. J. Vorster, was published in Government Gazette No. 6193 dated 20 October 1978. Changes to the metals of the badges and the riband for the civilian division indicated differences much the same as the Order of the British Empire. See Recommendation by General M. A. de M. Malan, Chief of the SA Defence Force, in Minute 12/Oct/78, in GP6CSP Box 945 104/13/1/14 Award of SA Orders, Decorations and Medals to Foreigners, and Verslag: Komitee van Ondersoek na Dekorasies en Medaljes in die SAW (i.e., "Report: Committee of Enquiry into Decorations and Medals in the SADF") Letter 103 in MV/MS/42/2 Vol 1, Box 44 of MVB (P. W. Botha Series). "State President" was the title of the head of state of the South African Republic (1860–1902). From 1994 the South African head of State has been called the President. 26. Warrant dated 5 October 1988, in Government Gazette, No. 11547, Vol. 280, dated 21 October 1988. The changes did not meet with the Director-General's unqualified approval according to Minute 113/35/4 of 11 August 1994 addressed to the Chancellor of Orders. The usage of adding the metal to the designation persists with the orders instituted since 2003, and now includes "platinum" for the highest class of one order. 27. The Warrant in the Government Gazette, Vol 280 no. 11547 dated 21 October 1988, repeated the 1973 Warrant and amended the classes to Class 1, Grand Cross (Gold); Class 2, Grand Officer (Silver); Class 3, Commander; class 4, Officers, and class 5, that of Member. 28. A paper on the design mentioned that the dove symbolized the Holy Ghost, was a symbol of peace and filled the Christian with hope. Spes bona was the motto of the Crown Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, granted with the colony's arms, by Royal Warrant in 1876. 29. An amendment to the Warrant on 20 November 1979, allowed the Collar to be presented to heads of government and to retiring State Presidents personally in view of their having been Grand Masters ex officio. 30. The abolition of the Grand Collar and the broad riband was agreed to by the State President in September 1986. Minute SP 21/5/7/2 dated 29 September 1986. See also Warrant of 18 December 1986 in Government Gazette No. 10574, volume 259 dated 9 January 1987. 31. See file 113/35/4(32) Volume 12. 32. Interview in July 1991,with the Secretary to the Chancery of Orders of Knighthood, St James Palace, London. The first Warrant for the military Order of the Star of South Africa also provided for the return of the higher insignia. In 1905, after Paul Kruger's death, Dr. W. J. Leyds asked the German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs about the return of the insignia of the Rote-Adler-Orden. However, it was replied that the Kruger family could retain the insignia at no cost. Esterhuysen, op. cit., p. 17. 33. Circular P21/77 dated 17 November 1977. 34. In Minute MB 4/1/1/1 dated 30 October 1979, the Minister suggested opening the Order to "deserving South Africans in making particular contributions in advancing South Africa's interests in relation to foreign countries." Minute 66 dated 31 January 1980 and Regulation 25 of 1980 in Government Gazette No. 2956 of 15 February 1980. However, as this writer found, recommending deserving South Africans was not bureaucratically well received and at least two had to wait for Neil van Heerden to become Director-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, by which time a different order was available and awarded. See recommendations and subsequent correspondence on vol. 13 (a) of File 113/35/4 (32). 35. Cabinet Minute 221 of 5 March and Minute 222 of 6 March 1980. This is not an unusual practice—the French Prime Minister is admitted to the highest class of the Légion d'Honneur after a year in office. 36. Ministerial minute M.B.4/1/1/1 dated 17 March 1980. 37. Cabinet Minute 257 of 2 March 1981. 38. The contemporary German Bundesverdienstorden and the Austrian Ehrenzeichen f ür Verdienste um die Republik Österreich both are confusions of orders and decorations. Under the Third Reich the Eiserne Kreuz (Iron Cross) became effectively a decoration in spite of its origin and structure as an order. 39. Minute HSP (4) 104/13(B) dated 10 November 1977 from the Chief of the SA Defence Force. 40. "Memorandum on Criteria for Award to Foreigners and Reciprocity," 113/35/4 dated 22 December 1970. The rules which forbade diplomatic and consular reciprocity at that time were contained in Government Notice No. 2004 of 27 December 1963. Few awards had yet been made to South African politicians and officials. Five diplomats and some military attachés had been decorated without prior approval's being sought. Coaton was once decorated with prior approval (by Argentina) and once without (by Spain). Since 1990, governments have been very liberal in awarding honours to South African diplomats. In 1992 the departing South African ambassador in Vienna, Cécile Schmidt, was awarded the Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeichen am Bande für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich—probably the first South African woman diplomat to be decorated. Heritage, University of Natal, 7:1, First Quarter 2000, pp. 1–2. 41. Geldenhuys, Deon Isolated States—A Comparative Analysis (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 1990), pp. 227–230. 42. These responses surprised this writer. Over a number of years he recommended seven soldiers and one civilian in his Reserve Force regiment for honours for meritorious conduct, as well as one prolific military historian, one retired officer well-known for voluntary public service, and four deserving academics for admission to orders. Only two of the latter recommendations failed. 43. A. G. Barlow, Almost in Confidence (Cape Town: Juta, 1952), p. 110. Barlow's response to the party leaders was "That makes it all the more necessary that such a state of affairs should be put an end to at once." In the First World War and after, David Lloyd George's Liberal Party government secretly peddled honours for party funds and the sale of honours in Britain was made illegal by the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925. In 2006 the same abuse returned to haunt the Labour Party government of Tony Blair. A number of people were arrested, including Blair's personal fund raiser, and 90 were questioned by police in connection with alleged offences under the 1925 Act. 44. Barlow, op. cit., p. 200. 45. Barlow, op.cit., p. 202. At the end of the First World War some generals were admitted to the second class of orders, entitling them to the title of "Sir," but no South African, irrespective of rank, was admitted at a higher level than Commander or Companion (third class) after the Second World War. 46. Minute S16.6.94 113/35/4 contains a request from Deputy-Minister Aziz Pahad to the Chancery of Orders in the President's Office, for the Grand Cross to be awarded to President François Mitterand during his visit in July 1994. 47. Speech by Director General, Department of Foreign Affairs to the Johannesburg Press Club Newsmakers Banquet, 30 November 2000, on the release of South Africans by the Abu Sayyaf Filipino separatist movement, after negotiations by Gadhafi. 48. The Order of the Companions of OR Tambo is awarded to foreign nationals for "friendship shown to South Africa" in three classes—Supreme Companions of OR Tambo (Gold), Grand Companions of OR Tambo (Silver), and Companions of OR Tambo (Bronze). For the new orders (the Orders of Mapungubwe, Baobab and Companions of OR Tambo, and the Orders of Luthuli, Ikamanga and Mendi) see Government Gazettes No. 24155 of 6 December 2002, No. 25799 of 2 December 2003, and No. 26929 of 25 October 2004.
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