The order has been rarely awarded by the last sovereign ruler of Rwanda HM Kigeli V and the most notable recipients include, among others, the socialist/communist affiliation leaders like Nobel prize winner and the former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela (the rank of Grand Cross, 1999) and the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo) Patrice Lumumba (posthumously handed over to the family, the rank of Grand Cross, 1966).