Gallantry Cross, Silver

The Gallantry Cross, Silver, post-nominal letters GCS, was instituted by the President of the Republic of Venda in 1985, for award to all ranks for courage or bravery or valour beyond the normal call of duty.[1][2]

Gallantry Cross, Silver
TypeMilitary decoration for bravery
Awarded forCourage or bravery or valour beyond the normal call of duty
Country Venda
Presented bythe President
EligibilityAll Ranks
Post-nominalsGCS
StatusDiscontinued in 1994
Established1985
Ribbon bar
VDF pre-1994 & SANDF post-2002 orders of wear
Next (higher)
VDF precedence:
SANDF precedence:
Next (lower)
VDF succession:
SANDF succession:

The Venda Defence Force

The 900 member Venda Defence Force (VDF) was established upon that country's independence on 13 September 1979. The Republic of Venda ceased to exist on 27 April 1994 and the Venda Defence Force was amalgamated with six other military forces into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).[3][4][5]

Institution

The Gallantry Cross, Silver was instituted by the President of Venda in 1985. It is the junior award of a set of two decorations for bravery, along with the Gallantry Cross, Gold.[1][2]

Venda's military decorations and medals were modeled on those of the Republic of South Africa and these two decorations are the approximate equivalents of, respectively, the Louw Wepener Decoration and the Honoris Crux (1975).[1]

Award criteria

The cross could be awarded to all ranks for courage or bravery or valour beyond the normal call of duty.[2]

Order of wear
Main article: South African military decorations order of wear § Order of wear

Since the Gallantry Cross, Silver 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.[1]

Venda Defence Force until 26 April 1994

South African National Defence Force from 27 April 1994

The position of the Gallantry Cross, Silver 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, but it remained unchanged on both occasions.[1]

Description
Obverse

The Gallantry Cross, Silver is a cross pattee, struck in silver, which fits in a circle 45 millimetres in diameter, with a silver hare's bobtail within a red circlet in the centre.[2][6]

Reverse

The reverse displays the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Venda.

Ribbon

The ribbon is 32 millimetres wide and dark brown, with 4 millimetres wide dark blue edges and a 4 millimetres wide white band in the centre.[6]

Discontinuation

Conferment of the Gallantry Cross, Silver was discontinued when the Republic of Venda ceased to exist on 27 April 1994.[5]

References
  1. Republic of South Africa Government Gazette Vol. 477, no. 27376, Pretoria, 11 March 2005, OCLC 72827981
  2. South African Medal Website - Venda Defence Force (Accessed 30 April 2015)
  3. South Africa Homeland Militaries, May 1996 (Accessed 1 May 2015)
  4. Peled, Alon (1998), A Question of Loyalty: Military Manpower Policy in Multiethnic States, Cornell Studies in Security Affairs, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 50f, ISBN 0-8014-3239-1
  5. Warrant of the President of the Republic of South Africa for the Institution of the "UNITAS MEDAL-UNITAS-MEDALJE", Gazette no. 16087 dated 25 November 1994.
  6. Uniform: SA Army: Former Forces Medals - Venda Defence Force (BDF)
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