1903 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1903 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 (until 17 August), George Morris Sutton (starting 17 August).

Orange River Colony

 * 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.

Transvaal

 * Governor of the Transvaal and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner.
 * Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal: Arthur Lawley.

Events

 * February
 * Mahatma Gandhi enrolls to the Bar of the Transvaal Supreme Court.


 * March
 * 12 – Andries Dreyer, an archivist of the Dutch Reformed Church, is ordained as a missionary of the congregation for the Hanover Street area in Cape Town.


 * May
 * 21 – The first contingent of Chinese labourers leave China to work on the Witwatersrand gold mines.


 * June
 * 4 – The Indian Opinion is started by Mahatma Gandhi with Mansukhlal Nazar as editor.


 * Unknown date
 * The County of Pembroke, a British cargo ship, is shipwrecked near Port Elizabeth.

Births

 * 11 January – Alan Paton, author and founder of the Liberal Party of South Africa, is born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal.
 * 21 March – J. B. Marks, political activist and trade unionist, is born in Ventersdorp. (d. 1972)
 * 4 May – Louise Behrens, novelist and Afrikaans journalist, is born in the Orange River Colony.
 * 4 May – Hendrik Susan, orchestra leader and violist.
 * 19 June – Wally Hammond, English first-class cricketer and South African sports administrator. (d. 1965)
 * 8 October – Mikro (Pseudonym for C.H. Kühn), writer and poet, is born at Van Reenens Farm in the Williston district.

Deaths

 * 21 February – Kate Vaughan, British dancer and actress (born 1852)
 * 13 March – General David Johannes Joubert (Ou Kat), a South African explorer to East Africa, dies of malaria near Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
 * 8 August – Adolf Schiel, German-born officer in Boer armed forces. (b. 1858)

Railway lines opened

 * 19 February – Cape Central – Swellendam to Riversdale, 64 mi.
 * 28 February – Cape Western – Kalbaskraal to Hopefield (Narrow gauge), 46 mi.
 * 22 March – Free State – Sannaspos to Thaba 'Nchu, 17 mi.
 * 1 April – Free State – Harrismith to Aberfeldy, 20 mi.
 * 27 April – Transvaal – India Junction to Driehoek (avoiding line), 55 ch.
 * 17 September – Natal – Mhlatuze to Somkele, 55 mi.
 * 1 November – Transvaal – India Junction to New Canada, 14 mi.
 * 12 November – Natal – Talana to Lucas Meyer, 50 mi.
 * 14 December – Cape Eastern – King William's Town to Middledrift, 33 mi.
 * 14 December – Cape Midland – Cookhouse to Adelaide, 42 mi.
 * 14 December – Cape Midland – Willowmore to Le Roux, 75 mi.

Locomotives

 * Cape
 * Nine new Cape gauge and two narrow gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):
 * The last eight 3rd Class Wynberg Tender suburban locomotives in Cape Town.
 * Two Karoo Class 4-6-2 Pacific passenger locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 5A on the South African Railways (SAR).
 * Two 6th Class 2-6-2 Prairie locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 6Y on the SAR.
 * A second batch of 38 8th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives, six on the Western, twenty on the Midland and twelve on the Eastern Systems. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8D on the SAR.
 * Four additional 8th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives, built to modified specifications in order to accommodate a larger grate area. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8E on the SAR.
 * Four Cape 8th Class 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8Y on the SAR.
 * Two 9th Class 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotives. In 1912 they will be classified Class Experimental 4 on the SAR.
 * A single experimental 2-8-0 Consolidation type tandem compound steam locomotive. In 1912 it will be classified as Class Experimental 3 on the SAR.
 * A single experimental 0-6-0+0-6-0 Kitson-Meyer type articulated steam locomotive on the Eastern System.
 * A single small Krauss 0-4-0 side-tank locomotive, for use as construction engine on the narrow gauge Avontuur branch.
 * A single Krauss 0-6-0 tank locomotive, also for use as construction engine on the Avontuur branch.
 * Two locomotives, later named Thebus and Stormberg, enter service with the Irrigation Department of the Public Works Department of the Cape Colony.


 * Transvaal
 * Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Central South African Railways (CSAR):
 * Six Reid Tenwheeler 4-10-2 tank locomotives are converted to a 4-8-2T configuration. In 1912 they will be designated Class H1 on the SAR.
 * Thirty Class 8-L2 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8B on the SAR.
 * Thirty Class 8-L3 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8C on the SAR.