1896 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1896 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: 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:.

Events

 * 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.


 * 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.

Births

 * 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)

Deaths

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

Railway lines opened

 * 1 February – Cape Eastern – Sterkstroom to Indwe, 67 mi.
 * 1 April – Transvaal – Kaapmuiden to Barberton, 34 mi.
 * 2 November – Transvaal – Krugersdorp to Frederikstad, 52 mi.

Locomotives

 * 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).
 * 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.
 * 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.


 * 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.


 * 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.


 * 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.