1896 in South Africa

← 1895 1894 1893 1896 in South Africa → 1897 1898 1899
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	1896 in South African sport List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1896 in South Africa.

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Hercules Robinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Pieter Jeremias Blignaut (until March 4), Martinus Theunis Steyn (starting March 4).
• State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Cecil John Rhodes (until January 13), John Gordon Sprigg (starting January 13).
• Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: .

January

• 2 – Leander Starr Jameson and his forces surrender at Doornkop near Krugersdorp.
• 6 – Cecil Rhodes is forced to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony for his involvement in the Jameson Raid.

February

• 19 – A train carrying 56 tons of dynamite explodes at Braamfontein, Johannesburg, killing more than 78 people.^[1]

May

• 13 – The Franchise Bill is passed by Natal's Legislative Assembly, disfranchising natives of other countries.

June

• 5 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi embarks from Durban for Calcutta en route to Bombay.

August

• 6 – Cape Town's first electric tram service begins operation along Adderley Street to Mowbray Hill.

December

• 18 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi arrives back in Durban with his wife and two sons, but the ship is placed under a 5-day quarantine because Bombay was declared a plague-infected port. Quarantine will later be extended to 13 January 1897.

Unknown date

• South Africa's first school of mines is opened in Kimberley. It will later form the core of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

• 1 February – Stephanus Le Roux Marais, organist, teacher and composer of Afrikaans songs, is born in the district of Bloemfontein.
• 1 February – Ivan Mitford-Barberton, art teacher at the Michaelis School of Art in Cape Town and sculptor of several monuments in South Africa, is born in Somerset East.
• April – Clements Kadalie, trade unionist, is born at Chifira, Nkhata Bay District, Nyasaland (now Malawi).
• 3 May – Petrus Johannes Lemmer, composer of Afrikaans songs, is born in Hartbeesfontein, Transvaal.
• 27 October – Edith Haisman, RMS Titanic survivor, is born in Worcester, Cape Colony (d. 1997)

• 17 September – Nicholaas Waterboer, Griqua chief and eldest son of Andries Waterboer, dies in Griekwastad.

• 1 February – Cape Eastern – Sterkstroom to Indwe, 67 miles (107.8 kilometres).^[2]
• 1 April – Transvaal – Kaapmuiden to Barberton, 34 miles (54.7 kilometres).^[2]
• 2 November – Transvaal – Krugersdorp to Frederikstad, 52 miles (83.7 kilometres).^[2]

Cape

• Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):
  • The first of a second batch of fifty 6th Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6A on the South African Railways (SAR).^[3][4]
  • The first of a second batch of forty-six 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives on the Midland and Eastern Systems. In 1912 they would be designated Class 7A on the SAR.^[3][4]
• Two 4-6-2 Pacific type tank locomotives enter service on the Metropolitan and Suburban Railway that operates a suburban passenger service between Cape Town and Sea Point.^[3]

Free State

• The Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouwerment-Spoorwegen places the first of twenty-four new Cape 6th Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives in service. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6C on the SAR.^[3][4]

Natal

• The Natal Government Railways (NGR) rebuilds one of its Class G 4-6-0 tank locomotives to the first 4-6-4 Baltic type locomotive in the world. It was later designated the NGR Class H.^[3][4]

Transvaal

• The independent Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (Transvaal Republic) places the first of three 26 Tonner saddle-tank locomotives in service.^[3][4]