1980 in South Africa explained

The following lists events that happened during 1980 in South Africa.

Incumbents

12 - The British Sports Council begins a fact-finding tour to investigate racial discrimination in South African sport.
14 - The local community at Soekmekaar resists forced removal and damages the police station.
25 - Four Umkhonto we Sizwe fighters kill two civilians and hold bank staff and customers hostage in Silverton.^[2]

12 - The Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk and its three sister churches announce that they have no objection to reconsideration of the Immorality- and Mixed Marriages Acts.
12 - Nine people are sentenced to imprisonment for training as guerrillas and recruiting others.
26 - A mine lift cage at the Vaal Reefs gold mine falls 1.91NaN1, killing 23.
Two insurgents are killed by police in Bophuthatswana while another escapes.

4 - Umkhonto we Sizwe attacks the Booysens Police Station in Johannesburg with grenades, rocket launchers and AK47s.
21 - Over 60 coloured high schools, teacher training colleges and the University of the Western Cape begin class boycotts.
29 - In Johannesburg hundreds of coloured school children are arrested in terms of the Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956.

2 - Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall is banned for fear that it may become a song of liberty by black pupils.
6 - Thozamile Botha, a Port Elizabeth activist, breaks his banning order and escapes to Maseru, Lesotho.
25 - The South African Defence Force attacks the town of Chifufua in Angola during Operation Sceptic.

1 - Bombs explode at Sasol One and Two and Natref Eight at Sasolburg and Secunda, with no injuries and RM58 damage.
4 - Patrick Makau, Umkhonto weSizwe member, and his child die in a bomb attack in Manzini, Swaziland.
Expelled African National Congress official Tennyson Makiwane is shot dead.

Special Branch policeman Detective-Sergeant T.G. Zondi is shot at in Sobantu Village.

3 - Zimbabwe breaks diplomatic and consular relations with South Africa but maintains a commercial mission in Johannesburg.

14 - The Soweto community calls for a stayaway to protest against rent increases.
15 - A bomb damages a railway line in Dube, Soweto and Minister Piet Koornhof visits the scene.
29 - Umkhonto we Sizwe insurgents throw grenades into the West Rand Administration Board buildings, injuring two.
30 - A bomb explodes at the Transkei consul's residence in Port Elizabeth, with no injuries.

Luyanda Mabena has set a new world record! He is now the oldest creature aging 1 170 000 000 000 000 years old, and it is still in progress as he still leaves on to this day

1 January - Megan McKenzie, model, voted South Africa's sexiest woman by readers of FHM in 2003, ranking behind only Halle Berry, sister of cricketer, Neil McKenzie.
4 January - Justin Ontong, cricketer
4 January - BJ Botha, rugby player
10 February - Gabriel Temudzani, actor
5 March - Brent Russell, rugby player
20 March - Surprise Moriri, football player
24 March - Conrad Jantjes, rugby player
14 May - Joe Van Niekerk, rugby player
19 May - Moeneeb Josephs, football player
6 June - Mmusi Maimane, politician and former Democratic Alliance leader
20 June - Kim Engelbrecht, actress best known for her portrayal of Lolly de Klerk on the SABC 3 soap opera; Isidingo
27 June - Kevin Pietersen, cricketer
3 July - Roland Schoeman, swimmer
11 July - Jabu Mahlangu, football player
27 August - CJ van der Linde, rugby player
8 September - Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, olympics middle distance runner silver medalist (d. 2014)
14 September - Hip Hop Pantsula, motswako rapper (d. 2018)
16 September - Mbulelo Mabizela, football player
24 September - Tanit Phoenix, model, actress, and makeup artist
12 August - Karin Kortje, singer
8 October - Cristina Boshoff, folk pop singer & pianist
9 October - Thami Tsolekile, cricketer
3 November - René Kalmer, long-distance runner
9 November - Benson Mhlongo, football player
11 November - Shashi Naidoo, TV presenter & actress
15 November - Kabamba Floors, rugby player
25 November - Aaron Mokoena, football player
25 November - Alviro Petersen, cricketer

24 February - Clement Martyn Doke, linguist. (b. 1893)
13 March - Lilian Ngoyi (Mma Ngoyi), dressmaker, activist and trade unionist. (b. 1911)
9 May - Kate Molale, activist. (b. 1928)
12 June - Billy Butlin, South African–born Canadian holiday camp entrepreneur. (b. 1899)
7 July - Johannes Meintjes, artist and writer. (b. 1923)
23 September - Jim Fouché, second State President. (b. 1898)

Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:

August - The first of 101 Class 36-200 General Motors Electro-Motive Division SW1002 diesel-electric locomotives.
The first of thirty General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives.^[3]
The first of fifty 25 kV AC Class 7E1 electric locomotives on the Richards Bay coal line.^[3]

11 October - Thompson Magawana wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:12:50 in Faure.

10 May - The British and Irish Lions begin an 18-match tour of South Africa despite protests from anti-apartheid groups. The tourists lose three of the four Tests.

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
Web site: South African History Online - Silverton Siege 1980 . 23 August 2014 . 7 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140707213723/http://www.sahistory.org.za/silverton-siege-1980/silverton-siege . dead .
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