It was awarded to all ranks on the active strength of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force upon independence.

[1][7] Since the Independence Medal 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.

The position of the Independence Medal in the order of precedence remained unchanged, as it was on 27 April 1994, when decorations and medals were belatedly instituted in April 1996 for the two former non-statutory forces, the Azanian People's Liberation Army and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and again when a new series of military orders, decorations and medals was instituted in South Africa on 27 April 2003.

[8] The reverse shows the face of a leopard over the inscription "6-12-77", the date of Bophuthatswana's independence.

Cobalt blue and cadmium are the principal colours of the national flag of Bophuthatswana.