1884 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1884 in South Africa.

Incumbents

 * Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Hercules Robinson.
 * Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer.
 * State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.
 * State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger.
 * Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Thomas Charles Scanlen (until 12 May), Thomas Upington (starting 12 May).

Events

 * April
 * 24 – Germany occupies German South-West Africa.


 * July
 * 24 – Barberton is declared a town.


 * August
 * 5 – The Republic of Vryheid is established in northern Natal.
 * 7 – Walvisbaai is occupied by the Cape Colony.


 * November
 * 3 – Imvo Zabantsundu (Xhosa: The Native People's Opinion of South Africa), South Africa's first newspaper by and for Black people, is founded by John Tengo Jabavu in King William's Town.
 * 15 – The Berlin Conference commences when 14 countries (Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway, Turkey, and United States of America) meet in Berlin to each claim their part of Africa.


 * December
 * 1 – The private Kowie Railway line between Grahamstown and Port Alfred is opened to traffic.



Births
Rolland Beaumont cricketer

Deaths

 * 8 February – Zulu king Cetshwayo. (b. 1826)

Railway lines opened

 * 31 March – Cape Midland – Noupoort to De Aar, to link up with the Cape Western System, 69 mi.
 * May – Natal – Pietermaritzburg to Merrivale, 15 mi.
 * 16 September – Cape Eastern – Sterkstroom to Molteno, 20 mi.
 * 3 November – Cape Western – Victoria West Road to Oranjerivier, 150 mi.
 * 1 December – Kowie – Port Alfred to Grahamstown, 44 mi.

Locomotives

 * The Cape Government Railways places two experimental 3rd Class 4-4-0 tender and four experimental 4th Class 4-6-0 tank-and-tender locomotives in service, designed by the Cape Eastern System to be able to use the low-grade local coal with its high content of incombustible matter.