The Sandile Decoration, post-nominal letters SD, was instituted by the President of the Republic of Ciskei in 1988, for award to all ranks for meritorious service.

[1] The decoration was named after King Sandile kaNgqika, who had been declared as deposed and a fugitive by Major General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith Bt GCB, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope, after he refused to attend a meeting with Smith outside Fort Cox in December 1850.

The position of the Sandile Decoration in the official order of precedence remained unchanged upon the institution of a new set of honours on 27 April 2003.

[1] The Sandile Decoration is a medallion struck in silver, 38 millimetres in diameter and without a raised rim, displaying the eagle emblem of the Ciskei Defence Force in a laurel wreath.

[11] Conferment of the Sandile Decoration was discontinued when the Republic of Ciskei ceased to exist on 27 April 1994.