Orders, Decorations and Medals

A scarce Rhodesia Police Meritorious Service Medal (P.M.M.) group of six awarded to Superintendent L. C. Tembo, Zimbabwe Republic Police, late British South Africa Police, who was R.S.M. of the Support Unit throughout the Bush War years

Zimbabwe Independence Medal (03280); Zimbabwe Long & Exemplary Service Medal, with Bar (14117 C. Insp. Tembo); Zimbabwe Service Medal (14117 C. Insp. Tembo); Rhodesia Police Meritorious Service Medal (14117 Sgt. Maj. L. C. Tembo); Rhodesia General Service Medal (14117 Sgt. Lankis); Rhodesia Police L.S. & G.C., with Bar (14117 Sgt. Tembo), good very fine and better (6) £500-600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Keith Holshausen Collection.

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Only 24 awards of the Rhodesia Police Meritorious Service Medal (P.M.M.) were made to Sergeant-Majors in the Regular Force out of a total of 234 Medals.

Rhodesia Police Meritorious Service Medal (P.M.M.) Independence Day Honours List 11 November 1977.

Lankis Chendela Tembo was born in the Mchinji District of Nyasaland (Malawi), around 1930, a member of the Ngoni Tribe. Following the 1939-45 War, in which his father served in the King’s African Rifles, the family moved to Rhodesia, where young Lankis attended Primary School at the British South Africa Police’s Tomlinson Depot before joining the Force in May 1955. His early career was spent in normal police duties as a Constable and then he worked at State House as a Telephone Operator and Orderly. In 1961, however, he transferred to the Support Unit, gaining promotion to Sergeant and, progressively, to Sergeant-Major in 1973, the senior N.C.O. with responsibility for 1,000 men. A Troop Commander by 1975, he remained active in the Zimbabwe Republic Police at Independence, and rose to the rank of Superintendent in 1982, when the Support Unit consisted of 2,600 men. He finally retired in December 1991, after a remarkable career spanning 36 years. But his years as the Support Unit’s R.S.M. were probably his proudest, as evidenced by the following annual report:

‘He is one of the most respected men in the Support Unit. There is not a single man in the Support Unit who does not know and respect Sergeant-Major Tembo. He is a strict disciplinarian but this is tempered with the correct degree of tact and understanding. As a qualified drill and weapons instructor he is not averse to getting onto the drill square and imparting his knowledge. A man who is not afraid of hard work, he invariably works long hours and insists on “putting in an appearance” every single day of the year. He is without doubt a tremendous asset to the Support Unit.’

Such a record did not go unrewarded, his accolades including the Rhodesia General Service Medal (Rhodesia Government Gazette 893A of 1969, 7th Schedule), the Rhodesia Police L.S. & G.C. (R.G.N. 1329/73), and First Bar (R.G.N. 174/81), and the Zimbabwe Long & Exemplary Service Medal, First Bar (Force Orders 13/87, 3rd Schedule), these, of course, in addition to his P.M.M.

Sold with the recipient’s original Certificate of Award for his P.M.M. and Certificate of Service, in their blue folders, and related P.M.M. letter from the Commissioner of Police, together with an impressive array of photographs, both original and copied, including images of a parade for the Freedom of the Makoni Rural Council Area (Rusape), with Tembo as Parade Sergeant-Major, and related programme, and a large file of research.