Ireland–South Africa relations as premature. The Irish embassy opened in Pretoria in 1994. From the early 1960s Ireland vehemently opposed apartheid in South Africa. South African Nelson Mandela, then a dissident, later president, was awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 1988 while a political prisoner; he collected the award upon his release in 1990. Diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1994. In November 2003, Brian Cowen, while touring Africa as Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, promised South African President Thabo Mbeki that Ireland would highlight African problems when it ascended to the Council Presidency of the European
Star of South Africa, Silver 1958. On 27 April 1994, it was integrated with six other independent forces into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). The Star of South Africa, Silver, post-nominal letters SSAS, was instituted by the State President on 1 July 1975, as the junior decoration of two military classes of the Order of the Star of South Africa. The order was named after the first large diamond to be found in South Africa, the Star of South Africa, which was found on the banks of the Orange River in 1869 and which sparked the New Rush, leading to the establishment of