1978 in South Africa explained

The following lists events that happened during 1978 in South Africa.

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]
• 10  - John Vorster becomes State President of South Africa.^[1]
• 31  - The South African Railways sets a still unbeaten world rail speed record.

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.^{[3] [4]}

Births

• 23 February  - Siyabonga Shibe, actor
• 24 February  - Bolla Conradie, rugby player
• 28 February  - Rowen Fernández, football player
• 22 March  - Heinz Winckler, singer, winner of Idols South Africa (season 1)
• 27 March  - Professor (musician), recording artist
• 30 March  - Bok van Blerk, singer-songwriter
• 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
• 7 June  - DuPreez Strauss, music director, TV, theatre and radio producer, composer, lyricist, writer, casting director, orchestra conductor and TV personality^[5]
• 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)
• 27 February  - Robert Sobukwe, political activist. (b. 1924)
• 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.^[6]
  • The first of one hundred Class 7E electric locomotives, the SAR's first 25 kV AC locomotive.
  • The first of twenty-five , Series 1 electric locomotives, the SAR's first 50 kV AC locomotive, on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line.^[6]
• 31 October  - SAR Class 6E1, Series 4 locomotive no. E1525 reaches a speed of 2450NaN0 on a stretch of track between Westonaria and Midway, a still unbeaten world rail speed record on (1,067 millimetres) Cape gauge track.
• 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.

Sports

Motorsport

• 4 March  - The South African Grand Prix takes place at Kyalami.

Notes and References

1. http://www.archontology.org/nations/south_africa/sa_pres1/ Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961-1994
2. Web site: AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS - The ANC's second submission to the TRC: Operations Report - 2.2. June 1976 - Kabwe, 1985 . 21 August 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141007224203/http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=2652 . 7 October 2014 . dead.
3. Web site: Countries and Regions > Middle East and Africa > List of the Countries. https://web.archive.org/web/20151117164322/http://www.mofa.go.kr/ENG/countries/middleeast/countries/20070824/1_24466.jsp?menu=m_30_50. dead. 2015-11-17. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of. Korea.
4. Web site: South Korea-South Africa Relations. https://web.archive.org/web/20151117164322/http://zaf.mofa.go.kr/webmodule/common/download.jsp?boardid=15140&tablename=TYPE_ENGLEGATIO&seqno=02cfc9044ffb03e05c07c019&fileseq=012fe9fba029fc3f9d07d029. dead. 17 November 2015. The Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of South Africa. 6 April 2015. 7 October 2016.
5. Web site: DuPreez Strauss. tvsa.co.za.
6. 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