1978 in South Africa
The following lists events that happened during 1978 in South Africa.
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Incumbents
- State President:
- Nico Diederichs (until 21 August).[1]
- Marais Viljoen (acting from 21 August until 9 October).[1]
- John Vorster (from 10 October).[1]
- Prime Minister:
- John Vorster (until 2 October).
- P.W. Botha (from 9 October).
- Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.
Events
- January
- Former African National Congress member Steve Mtshali, state witness in various trials, is shot and wounded.
- February
- 2 – Guerrillas attack the Daveyton police station.
- 2 – Kaiser Matanzima breaks all diplomatic ties with South Africa and announces that all South African Defence Force members seconded to the Transkei Army will leave Transkei by 31 March.
- 2 – The Eastern Cape Attorney-General refuses to prosecute policemen involved in the arrest and detention of Steve Biko.
- A bomb capable of destroying a 22-storey building is found in a Johannesburg office block and defused.
- March
- 10 – A bomb explodes outside the offices of the Bantu Affairs building in Port Elizabeth, killing one civilian.
- April
- 14 – Abel Mthembu, former deputy president of the ANC in the Transvaal, turns state witness at the Pretoria ANC trial.
- May
- 4 – The South African Defence Force launches an airborne attack on Cassinga in Angola during Operation Reindeer.
- 4 – Azanian People's Organisation members Ishmael Mkhabela and Lybon Mabasa are arrested in Soweto.
- August
- 21 – Marais Viljoen becomes acting State President of South Africa.[1]
- 23 – Operation Saffraan, a South African Defence Force retaliatory raid, is carried out in Zambia.
- September
- The African National Congress attempts to kill about 500 of its own cadres by poisoning their food because an infiltrated enemy agent could not be identified.[2]
- October
- 9 – P.W. Botha succeeds John Vorster as Prime Minister of South Africa.[1][3]
- 10 – John Vorster becomes State President of South Africa.[1]
- 31 – The South African Railways sets a still unbeaten world rail speed record.[4][5]
- December
- A bomb explodes at the Soweto Community Council offices.
- Unknown date
- The South African Defence Force attacks several SWAPO bases in Angola during Operation Bruilof.
- The SADF's 32 Battalion moves into southern Angola to flush out SWAPO members during Operation Seiljag.
- George Bizos becomes a senior member of the Johannesburg Bar.
- The Atomic Energy Corporation builds South Africa's first nuclear weapon device.
- South Korea ends diplomatic relations with South Africa it established in 1961, in protest of apartheid.[6][7]
Births
- 23 February – Siyabonga Shibe, actor
- 24 February – Bolla Conradie, rugby player
- 28 February – Rowen Fernández, football player
- 22 March – Heinz Winckler, singer
- 27 March – Professor (musician), recording artist
- 3 April – John Smit, Springboks, rugby captain
- 6 April – Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Springbok rugby player
- 6 May – Danie Rossouw, Jaco van der Westhuyzen
- 8 May – Nkhensani Kubayi-Ngubane, national minister
- 25 June – De Wet Barry, Springbok rugby player
- 30 June – Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, national minister
- 8 August – Lawrence Sephaka, Springbok rugby player
- 10 August – Karen Zoid, singer
- 23 October – Wayne Julies, Springbok rugby player
- 7 November – Katlego Danke, actress
- 20 November – Neil de Kock, Springbok rugby player
- 18 December – Lulu Dikana, singer, older sister of singer Zonke (d. 2014)
- 29 December – André Pretorius, Springbok rugby player
Deaths
- 8 January – Rick Turner, activist and academic. (b. 1941)
- 12 January – Monty Naicker, medical doctor and activist. (b. 1910)
- 6 July – Papwa Sewgolum, golfer. (b. 1930)
- 21 August – Nico Diederichs, State President of South Africa. (b. 1903)
Railways
Locomotives
- Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:
- August – The first of 58 Class 34-800 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives.[5][8]
- The first of one hundred Class 7E electric locomotives, the SAR's first 25 kV AC locomotive.[4]
- The first of twenty-five Class 9E, Series 1 electric locomotives, the SAR's first 50 kV AC locomotive, on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line.[4][8]
- 31 October – SAR Class 6E1, Series 4 locomotive no. E1525 reaches a speed of 245 kilometres per hour (152 miles per hour) on a stretch of track between Westonaria and Midway, a still unbeaten world rail speed record on 3 feet 6 inches (1,067 millimetres) Cape gauge track.[4][5]
- The SAR rebuilds Class 6E1, Series 5 no. E1600, a 3 kV DC electric locomotive, as a test-bed for use during 25 kV AC electrification.[4]
Sports
Motorsport
- 4 March – The South African Grand Prix takes place at Kyalami.
References
- Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961-1994 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
- "AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS - The ANC`s second submission to the TRC: Operations Report - 2.2. June 1976 - Kabwe, 1985". Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
- Jeffery, Anthea (2009). People's War - New Light on the Struggle for South Africa (1st ed.). Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-86842-357-6.
- Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 128–131, 136. ISBN 0869772112.
- Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. pp. 38–39, 41, 46, 56–57.
- Korea, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of. "Countries and Regions > Middle East and Africa > List of the Countries". Archived from the original on 17 November 2015.
- "South Korea-South Africa Relations". The Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of South Africa. 6 April 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
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