The Order of Mapungubwe is
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
's highest honour.
It was instituted on 6 December 2002, and is granted by the
President of South Africa
The president of South Africa is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa. The president heads the executive branch of the Government of South Africa and is the commander-in-chief of the South African Nationa ...
, for achievements in the international arena 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
The Kingdom of Mapungubwe (or Maphungubgwe) (c. 1075–c. 1220) was a medieval state in South Africa located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers, south of Great Zimbabwe. The name is derived from either TjiKalanga and Tshivenda ...
, an ancient African nation which existed a thousand years ago in what is now the northern part of the
Limpopo
Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...
province.
The first recipient of the order (in the Platinum class) was the late former president
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
.
Design
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.
Recipients
2002
*
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
– Platinum (national reconciliation and nation-building)
*
Allan McLeod Cormack
Allan MacLeod Cormack (February 23, 1924 – May 7, 1998) was a South African American physicist who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with Godfrey Hounsfield) for his work on X-ray computed tomography (CT).
Early life ...
(posthumously) – Gold (for achievements in
CT scanning)
*
F. W. de Klerk – Gold (national reconciliation and nation-building)
*
Basil Schonland
Sir Basil Ferdinand Jamieson Schonland OMG CBE FRS (2 February 1896 – 24 November 1972) was noted for his research on lightning, his involvement in the development of radar during World War II and for being the first president of the South ...
(posthumously) – Gold (physicist and founding president of the
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) 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 cit ...
)
*
Peter Beighton – Bronze (research into the inherited disorders of the skeleton)
*
Hamilton Naki
Hamilton Naki (26 June 1926 – 29 May 2005) was a laboratory assistant to cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard in South Africa. He was recognised for his surgical skills and for his ability to teach medical students and physicians such skills de ...
– Bronze (medical science)
2003
No awards presented.
2004
*
Sydney Brenner
Sydney Brenner (13 January 1927 – 5 April 2019) was a South African biologist. In 2002, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with H. Robert Horvitz and Sir John E. Sulston. Brenner made significant contributions to work ...
– Gold (medical science)
*
Tshilidzi Marwala
Tshilidzi Marwala (born 28 July 1971) is a South African artificial intelligence engineer, a computer scientist, a mechanical engineer and a university administrator.
Early life and education
Marwala was born at Duthuni Village in the Li ...
– Bronze (engineering science)
*
Batmanathan Dayanand Reddy – Bronze (mathematics and science)
2005
*
John Maxwell Coetzee
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
– Gold (literature)
*
Aaron Klug – Gold (medical science)
*
Frank Nabarro
Frank Reginald Nunes Nabarro MBE OMS FRS (7 March 1916 – 20 July 2006) was an English-born South African physicist and one of the pioneers of solid-state physics, which underpins much of 21st-century technology.
Education
Born 7 March 19 ...
– Gold (academics and physics)
*
Tebello Nyokong – Bronze (research into the development of cancer treatments)
*
Himladevi Soodyall – Bronze
2006
*
Selig Percy Amoils
Selig Percy Amoils, FRCS, born 1933, is a South African ophthalmologist and biomedical engineering inventor. – Silver (pioneering medical achievements)
*
George Ellis – Silver (mathematics and science)
*
Lionel Opie __TOC__
Lionel may refer to: Name
*Lionel (given name) Places
* Lionel, Lewis, a village in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland
*Lionel Town, Jamaica, a settlement Brands and enterprises
*Lionel, LLC, an American designer and importer of toy trains and m ...
– Silver (knowledge and achievements in the field of cardiology)
*
Patricia Berjak
Patricia Berjak (29 December 1939 – 21 January 2015) was a South African botanist known for her work on the biology of plant seeds, especially seed recalcitrance. She was professor for 48 years at the University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN).
Sh ...
– Silver (seed biologist)
2007
*
Claire Penn
Claire Penn (1951–2018) was a South African speech and language pathologist, and held the endowed chair of Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of the Witwatersrand, and was a former senior research specialist at the Human Sciences ...
– Silver (speech and language pathology, sign language,
aphasia
Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in t ...
)
*
Sibusiso Sibisi Sibusiso is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Sibusiso Bengu (born 1934), South African politician
*Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini (born 1942), the Prime Minister of Swaziland
* Sibusiso Dlamini (born 1980), Swazi football striker
* S ...
– Silver (information technology, R&D)
*
Valerie Mizrahi
Valerie Mizrahi (born 1958) is a South African molecular biologist.
Biography
The daughter of Morris and Etty Mizrahi, she was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and was educated there. Her family is a Sephardi Jewish family from the Greek island of Rh ...
– Silver (biochemistry and molecular biology, including TB drug validation)
2008
*
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...
– Gold (literature, contributing to the elimination of colonialism and apartheid)
* 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)
2009
No awards presented.
2010
*
Douglas Butterworth
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...
– Silver (betterment of the environment and sustainability of fisheries)
*
Johann Lutjeharms – Silver (contribution to and achievements in oceanographic science)
*
Monique Zaahl – Bronze
2011
*
Pieter Steyn – Silver (contribution to and achievements in chemistry and biosynthesis of mycotoxins)
2012
*
Oliver Tambo
Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (27 October 191724 April 1993) was a South African anti-apartheid politician and revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991.
Biography
Higher education
Oliv ...
(posthumously) – Platinum (for exceptional leadership during the anti-apartheid struggle)
*
Albert Luthuli (posthumously) – Platinum (for exceptional leadership during the anti-apartheid struggle)
*
Barry David Schoub – Silver (for achievements in virology)
*
Patience Mthunzi-Kufa – Bronze (for her contributions to the field of biophotonics and her invaluable contribution to scientific research in South Africa and internationally)
2013
*
Bernie Fanaroff
Bernard Lewis Fanaroff (born 1947) is a South African astronomer and trade unionist. He served in several positions in the South African government from 1994 to 2000 related to the Reconstruction and Development Programme, the RDP, and to Saf ...
– Silver (for his excellent contribution to astronomy and dedication in putting South Africa on the map with the SKA Project)
*
George Ekama – Silver (for research in water solutions)
*
Glenda Gray
Glenda Elisabeth Gray MB BCh, FC Paeds, DSc (hc), is a South African physician, scientist and activist specializing in the care of children and in HIV medicine. In 2012, she was awarded South Africa's highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe ...
– Silver (for research in mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS)
*
Malegapuru William Makgoba
Malegapuru William Makgoba (born 1952 in Sekhukhune, South Africa) is a leading South African immunologist, physician, public health advocate, academic and former vice-chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
In 2013 he was recognised as ...
– Silver (for his pioneering work in transforming higher education)
*
Quarraisha Abdool Karim
Quarraisha Abdool Karim is an infectious diseases epidemiologist and co-founder and Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA. She is a Professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York and Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health, ...
– Bronze (for her work in the fields of HIV/AIDS and TB research)
2014
*
Ismail Mohamed (posthumously) – Silver (for his contributions to mathematics and political liberation)
*
Hendrik Simon Schaaf – Silver (for his contributions to medical science)
*
William Soga (posthumously) – Silver (for his contributions to medicine and anthropology)
*
Namrita Lall – Bronze (for her contributions to medical science)
2015
No awards presented.
2016
*
Zwelakhe Sisulu
Zwelakhe Sisulu (17 December 1950 – 4 October 2012) was a South African black journalist, editor, and newspaper founder. He was president of the Writers' Association of South Africa, which later became the Black Media Workers Association of So ...
– Gold (for his exceptional contribution to quality journalism; and as a reporter exposing the cruelties of apartheid and encouraging unity among the people of different political persuasions to fight for liberation)
2017
*
Fulufhelo Nelwamondo
Fulufhelo Vincent Nelwamondo ( OMS) is an electrical engineer by training, and holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Computational Intelligence) from the University of the Witwatersrand, in South Africa. He is the youngest recipient of the Harv ...
– Silver (for his excellent contribution to the field of science, particularly electrical engineering)
*
Siyabulela Lethuxolo Xuza – Silver (for his excellent contribution to scientific innovation at an early stage, proving to himself and others that through determination and hard work one can achieve new career heights)
2018
No awards presented.
2019
*
Bomo Edna Edith Molewa (posthumously) - Gold (for her efforts in environmental justice)
*
Malik Maaza – Silver (for his contributions to nano-science)
*
Ari Sitas – Silver (for his contributions to social science)
*
Thokozani Majozi – Bronze (for his contributions to mathematics, particularly the development of a novel mathematical technique for near-zero-effluent batch chemical facilities which enables the reuse of wastewater)
See also
*
South African civil honours
South African orders, decorations and medals are those military and civilian Order (decoration), orders, award, decorations and medals issued by the Government of South Africa. The following is a (non-exhaustive) list of these:
Historical orders, ...
References
External links
South African government websiteSouth African Medals WebsiteSouth African history website
Sources
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{{Order of Mapungubwe
Awards established in 2002
2002 establishments in South Africa
Orders of South Africa