1908 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1908 in South Africa.

Incumbents

 * Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Walter Hely-Hutchinson.
 * Governor of the Colony of Natal: Matthew Nathan.
 * Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Leander Starr Jameson.
 * Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Frederick Robert Moor.
 * Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony: Hamilton John Goold-Adams.
 * Prime Minister of the Transvaal Colony: Louis Botha.

Events

 * January
 * 30 – Mahatma Gandhi is released from prison by Jan Smuts after having been tried and sentenced to 2 months in prison earlier in the month.


 * March
 * 4 – The Pretoria branch of the Transvaal University College, precursor to the University of Pretoria, is established.


 * October
 * 7 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in Volksrust, along with fifteen other Indians, for entering Transvaal without registration certificates and is sentenced to two months imprisonment with hard labor.


 * November
 * 16 – Devastating flooding in Port Elizabeth


 * Unknown date
 * Bosman de Ravelli composes the first Afrikaans art song

Births

 * 5 March – Arthur Wegelin, composer.
 * 23 April – Bram Fischer, lawyer and champion against apartheid, is born in the Orange River Colony. (d. 1975)
 * 2 July – Andries Johannes Bester de Klerk, writer and secretary of the Cape Province, is born in Williston, Cape Colony
 * 10 July – Wally Hayward, South African athlete (d. 2006)

Railway lines opened

 * 4 January – Cape Eastern – West Bank, Buffalo Harbour to Chiselhurst, 4 mi.
 * 6 February – Transvaal – Machadodorp to Breyten, 55 mi.
 * 8 April – Free State – Hamilton to Beaconsfield (Cape), 99 mi.
 * 28 May – Cape Western – Milnerton to Ascot, 2 mi.
 * 3 June – Natal – Esperanza to Donnybrook (Narrow gauge), 94 mi.

Locomotives

 * The Cape Government Railways places two 4-6-2 Pacific type narrow gauge tank steam locomotives in passenger service on the Walmer branch in Port Elizabeth.