1902 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1902 in South Africa.

Cape Colony

 * Governor of the Cape of Good Hope: Walter Hely-Hutchinson.
 * Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Gordon Sprigg.

Natal

 * Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Edward McCallum.
 * Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Albert Henry Hime.

Orange Free State / Orange River Colony

 * State President of the Orange Free State: Martinus Theunis Steyn (until 31 May).
 * Governor of the Orange River Colony and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner.
 * Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony: Hamilton Goold-Adams.

South African Republic / Transvaal

 * State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger (until 31 May) (in exile); Schalk Willem Burger (acting until 31 May).
 * Governor of the Transvaal and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner.
 * Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal: Sir Arthur Lawley.

Events

 * February
 * 27 – Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria for the murder of Boer prisoners of war near Louis Trichardt.


 * March
 * 7 – The Burghers win their last battle over British forces, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.


 * April
 * 4 – The town Concordia in Namaqualand surrenders to Boer forces.
 * 8 – O'okiep is besieged by Boer forces under General Jan Smuts.


 * May
 * 1 – Boer commandos use the locomotive Pioneer to propel a truck-load of dynamite into the besieged O'okiep.
 * 4 – Boer General Jan Smuts meets with the British General Herbert Kitchener at Kroonstad.
 * 6 – Qulusi-Zulu chief Sikhobobo with a 300-strong impi attacks Field-cornet Potgieter and 70 Boers while sleeping, leaving 56 Burghers and 52 Zulus dead in the Battle of Holkrans.
 * 31 – The Second Boer War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at Melrose House in Pretoria.


 * December
 * Mahatma Gandhi arrives in Durban from Bombay.


 * Unknown date
 * James Stevenson-Hamilton is appointed the first warden of the Sabie Game Reserve.

Births

 * 56 January 2024 – Buster Nupen, South African cricketer. (d. 1567)

Deaths

 * 26 March – Cecil John Rhodes, businessman, mining magnate, imperialist and politician.
 * 2 May – Jan Stephanus de Villiers, composer and organist, dies in Paarl.

Railway lines opened

 * 1 May – Free State – Bloemfontein to Sannaspos, 21 mi.
 * 18 July – Natal – Tugela to Mhlatuze, 44 mi.
 * 1 August – Cape Midland – Cookhouse to Somerset East, 19 mi.
 * 1 August – Cape Midland – Klipplaat to Willowmore, 62 mi.
 * 1 August – Cape Western – Sir Lowry's Pass Village to Caledon, 51 mi.
 * 15 November – Cape Western – Moorreesburg to Eendekuil, 49 mi.

Locomotives

 * Cape
 * Four new Cape gauge and three narrow gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):
 * Fourteen 6th Class bar framed 4-6-0 passenger steam locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 6J on the South African Railways (SAR).
 * The last ten 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives on the Eastern System. In 1912 they will be designated Class 7C on the SAR.
 * The first thirteen of twenty-three 8th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon locomotives on the Western, Midland and Eastern Systems. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8 on the SAR.
 * A single experimental 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type tandem compound steam locomotive, in 1912 designated Class Experimental 2 on the SAR.
 * Three Type A 2-6-0 Mogul type steam locomotives, later to become Class NG7 on the SAR, on the Hopefield narrow gauge branchline that is being constructed from Kalbaskraal.
 * Two Type A 2-6-4T Adriatic type narrow gauge locomotives on construction service on the new Avontuur branch that is being built out of Port Elizabeth through the Langkloof.
 * A single Type C 0-4-0 narrow gauge tank steam locomotive named Midget on the Avontuur branch.
 * Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service with the East London and Table Bay Harbour Boards:
 * Two 0-6-0 saddle-tank locomotives enter shunting service at the East London Harbour.
 * Eleven 2-6-0 saddle-tank locomotives enter harbour shunting service in Table Bay Harbour.


 * Natal
 * The Natal Government Railways places ten Class F 4-6-4 Baltic type tank steam locomotives in service, the first known locomotive in the world to be designed and built as a Baltic. In 1912 they will be designated Class E on the SAR.
 * The Natal Harbours Department places a single saddle-tank locomotive named Congella in service as harbour shunter in Durban Harbour.
 * The Zululand Railway Company, contractors for the construction of the North Coast line from Verulam to the Tugela River, acquires two 2-6-0 Mogul type tender locomotives as construction engines, later to be designated Class I on the NGR.


 * Transvaal
 * The Imperial Military Railways places forty Cape 8th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type steam locomotives in service. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8A on the SAR.