1977 in South Africa

* 1976
* 1975
* 1974
*   *

|  | 1977

South Africa |

* 1978
* 1979
* 1980
*   *

|
|
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Decades:|

* 1950s
* 1960s
* 1970s
* 1980s
* 1990s

See also:|

*   * List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1977 in South Africa.

## Incumbents

[edit]

* State President: Nico Diederichs.[1]
* Prime Minister: John Vorster.
* Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

## Events

[edit]

January

* 8 - The railway line near Soweto is maliciously damaged.

February

* 1 - KwaZulu is granted self-governance.
* 24 - A bomb explodes at the Daveyton Police Station, causing only superficial damage.[2]

March

* 5 - British Formula One driver Tom Pryce dies during the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami when his car strikes and kills marshal Frederik Jansen van Vuuren.
* 7 - A Pretoria restaurant is destroyed by a bomb.

April

* 1 - Pik Botha, South Africa's ambassador in the United States of America, is appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

June

* 4 - Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa is served a 5-year restriction order.
* 15 - Monty Motlaung and Solomon Mahlangu, two Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres, kill two civilians and are arrested.
* 29 - The United Party is renamed the New Republic Party.

July

* 15 - The railway line at Umlazi in Durban is maliciously damaged.
* 29 - The Antipolis, a Greek oil tanker, runs aground on the rocks near Victoria Road in Oudekraal, Cape Town.

August

* A Soviet surveillance satellite detects South Africa's nuclear test preparations and alerts the United States.
* Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko is detained for breaking a banning order.[3]

September

* 12 - Steve Biko, dies in police custody while being transported to Pretoria prison
* 23 - The Netherlands suspends its cultural agreement with South Africa.

November

* 4 - United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 places a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa.[3]
* 25 - Fourteen people are injured when a bomb explodes at the Carlton Centre.
* 30 - A bomb explodes on a Pretoria-bound train.
* 30 - A whites only general election is held. The National Party wins.
* The railway at Dunswart (Boksburg) and Apex (Benoni) is maliciously damaged and a train driver is slightly injured.

December

* 12 - Guerrillas attack the Germiston police station.[4]
* 14 - A bomb explodes at the Benoni railway station.
* 16 - The Venpet-Venoil collision between two supertankers occurs off the coast of Cape St. Francis.
* 22 - An unexploded bomb is found in OK Bazaars in Roodepoort.

Unknown date

* Former members of the United Party join the Progressive Reform Party, which is renamed the Progressive Federal Party.
* Cedric Mayson, a Methodist minister, is banned for 5 years.

## Births

[edit]

* 20 January - Paul Adams (cricketer), cricketer
* 21 January - Bradley Carnell, football player
* 30 January - Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, national minister
* 31 January - David Terbrugge, cricketer
* 14 February - Elmer Symons, motorcycle enduro racer (d. 2007)
* 6 March - Khoto Sesinyi, Mosotho footballer[5]
* 14 March - Matthew Booth (soccer), soccer player
* 24 April - Zola (musician), musician, poet, actor and presenter.
* 11 May - Victor Matfield, Springbok rugby player
* 21 May - Quinton Fortune, soccer player & coach
* 13 June - Stanton Fredericks, soccer player
* 18 June - Riaad Moosa, comedian, actor and doctor
* 6 July - Makhaya Ntini, cricketer
* 12 August - Zanne Stapelberg, soprano singer
* 26 August - Gareth Cliff, radio host, television personality and businessman
* 2 October - Justin Kemp, cricketer
* 21 October - Brett Goldin, actor (d. 2006)
* 12 November - Benni McCarthy, soccer striker & coach
* 12 November - Susan Wessels-Webber, hockey player
* 17 November - Ryk Neethling, swimmer
* 25 November - MacBeth Sibaya, soccer player
* 2 December - Siyabonga Nomvethe, soccer player
* 7 December - Delron Buckley, footballer

## Deaths

[edit]

* 29 January - Buster Nupen 75, cricketer. (b. 1902)
* 20 February - Christoffel Venter 84, South African Air Force general. (b. 1892)
* 5 March - Tom Pryce 27, a Welsh racing driver, (b. 1949) killed during the 1977 South African Grand Prix in Midrand
* 8 March - Moses Kottler, sculptor. (b. 1896)
* 2 July - Gert Potgieter, 47, operatic tenor (b. 1929)
* 12 September - Steve Biko 30, black consciousness activist. (b. 1946) [3]

## Railways

[edit]

Class 6E1, Series 7

### Locomotives

[edit]

* The South African Railways places the first of 150 Class 6E1, Series 7 electric locomotives in mainline service.[6][7]

## Sports

[edit]

### Motorsport

[edit]

* 5 March - The South African Grand Prix takes place at Kyalami.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961-1994 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
2. ^ "GTD ID:197702240007". Global Terrorism Database. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
3. ^ a b c Jeffery, Anthea (2009). People's War - New Light on the Struggle for South Africa (1st ed.). Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers. pp. 18–19\. ISBN 978-1-86842-357-6.
4. ^ "GTD ID:197712120006". Global Terrorism Database. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
5. ^ Khoto Sesinyi at National-Football-Teams.com
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
7. ^ Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 128–129\. ISBN 0869772112.

* v
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* e

Years in South Africa (1901–present)

* 1901
* 1902
* 1903
* 1904
* 1905
* 1906
* 1907
* 1908
* 1909
* 1910
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* 1913
* 1914
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* 1929
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* 1939
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* 1975
* 1976
* 1977
* 1978
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* 2001
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* v
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* e

1977 in Africa

Sovereign states|

* Algeria
* Angola
* Benin
* Botswana
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Cape Verde
* Central African Republic
* Chad
* Comoros
* Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Republic of the Congo
* Djibouti
* Egypt
* Equatorial Guinea
* Eritrea
* Eswatini
* Ethiopia
* Gabon
* The Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea
* Guinea-Bissau
* Ivory Coast
* Kenya
* Lesotho
* Liberia
* Libya
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Mauritius
* Morocco
* Mozambique
* Namibia
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Rwanda
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Sierra Leone
* Somalia
* South Africa
* South Sudan
* Sudan
* Tanzania
* Togo
* Tunisia
* Uganda
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe

States with limited
recognition

* Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
* Somaliland

Dependencies and
other territories

* Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain)
* Madeira (Portugal)
* Mayotte / Réunion (France)
* Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)

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