1929 in South Africa explained

The following lists events that happened during 1929 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Monarch: King George V.
• Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: The Earl of Athlone.
• Prime Minister: James Barry Munnik Hertzog.
• Chief Justice: William Henry Solomon then Jacob de Villiers.

Events

June

• 14  - The National Party under J.B.M. Hertzog wins the South African general election with an outright majority for a second consecutive term.

July

• 24  - Union Airways Pty. Ltd. is founded, to be nationalised as South African Airways on 1 February 1934.^[1]

August

• 26  - Union Airways commences operations.^[1]

Births

• 23 May  - Joe Modise, anti-apartheid activist. (d. 2001)
• 2 July  - Daphne Hasenjäger, South African athlete.^[2]
• 21 August  - Ahmed Kathrada, anti-apartheid activist. (d. 2017)
• 25 December  - Arthur Goldreich, South African-Israeli abstract painter and anti-apartheid activist. (d. 2011)

Deaths

• 20 March  - Ferdinand Foch, the First World War commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in France after whom Fochville was named. (b. 1851)
• 30 October  - Sir Joseph Robinson, 1st Baronet, mining magnate and Randlord

Railways

Railway lines opened

• 3 April  - Cape  - Hermon to Porterville, 36miles.^[3]
• 10 April  - Cape  - Ceres to Prince Alfred Hamlet, 6miles.^[3]
• 16 April  - Free State  - Wesselsbron to Bultfontein, 35miles.^[3]
• 31 July  - Free State  - Arlington to Lindley, 12miles.^[3]
• 12 August  - Transvaal  - Boshoek to Middelwit, 58miles.^[3]
• 31 August  - Transvaal  - Messina to Beitbridge, 10miles.^[3]
• 14 November  - Transvaal  - Derwent to Stoffberg, 37miles.^[3]
• 1 December  - South West Africa  - Seeis to Witvlei, 66miles.^[3]

Locomotives

Six new steam locomotive types, four Cape gauge and one narrow gauge, enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):

• Fourteen purpose-built Class S 0-8-0 shunting steam locomotives.
• Thirty-six Class 19A 4-8-2 Mountain type steam locomotives.^[4]
• Five Class GDA 2-6-2+2-6-2 Double Prairie type Garratt articulated branchline locomotives.
• The first two of eight Class GL 4-8-2+2-8-4 Double Mountain type Garratt locomotives on the Durban-Cato Ridge section in Natal.
• A single self-contained steam Clayton Railmotor for low-volume passenger service.^[5]
• A single narrow gauge 0-6-0 tank locomotive, built to the same design as the German South West African Class Hc of 1907, on the Otavi Railway in South West Africa.

Notes and References

1. http://www.saamuseum.co.za/saa-history.html SAA Museum Society: South African Airways, A Brief History
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173352/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ro/daphne-robb-hasenjager-1.html SR/Olympic Sports - Daphne Robb-Hasenjäger
3. Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 189, ref. no. 200954-13
4. South African Railways and Harbours Locomotive Diagram Book, 2’0” & 3’6” Gauge Steam Locomotives, 15 August 1941, as amended
5. Clayton Steam Rail Coach - From the Dave Rhind Collection, Railway History Group of South Africa, Pinelands, Cape Town.