1973 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1973 in South Africa.

Incumbents

 * State President: Jim Fouché.
 * Prime Minister: John Vorster.
 * Chief Justice: Newton Ogilvie Thompson.

Events

 * January
 * 8 – Two South African policemen are killed and two injured in an explosion near the Zambezi River in north-western Rhodesia.
 * 9 – the first strike of the 1973 Durban strikes occurs


 * February
 * 1 – Venda and Gazankulu are granted self-government.


 * March
 * Steve Biko is banned by the government.


 * july
 * 7 – Afrikaner Resistance Movement was founded in ventersdorp


 * August
 * 25 – Harry Schwarz wins the leadership of the United Party in the Transvaal, replacing Marais Steyn.


 * Unknown date
 * The Natal Parks Board starts buying up farms to form the Itala Game Reserve.
 * Michael Lapsley, an Anglican priest, arrives in South Africa.
 * African and Arab states impose an oil embargo on South Africa.

Births

 * 22 January – Brandon Silent, football player & coach.
 * 13 February – Dino Quattrocecere, figure skater.
 * 1 March – Robert Marawa, sports journalist, sports commentator, television presenter and radio host.
 * 5 March – Dumisa Ngobe, football player
 * 8 March – Jill Brukman, backstroke and medley swimmer.
 * 20 March – Nicky Boje, cricketer.
 * 15 April – Werner Swanepoel, rugby player.
 * 10 May – Ollie Le Roux, rugby player.
 * 31 May – Amanda Taylor, synchronized swimmer.
 * 16 July – Shaun Pollock, former cricketer & commentator.
 * 19 July – Nathalie Boltt, actress.
 * 29 July – AJ Venter, rugby player.
 * 25 August – Nico Panagio, actor & tv presenter.
 * 18 September – Mark Shuttleworth, entrepreneur and space tourist.
 * 29 October – Adam Bacher, cricketer.
 * 31 October – Cobus Visagie, rugby player.
 * 18 November – Michele MacNaughton, field hockey player.
 * 27 November – Sharlto Copley, producer, actor, and director.
 * 29 November – Raphael Smith, screenwriter and songwriter.
 * 16 December – Themba Mnguni, football player.

Deaths

 * 21 February – Cecil Kellaway, actor. (b. 1890)

Locomotives
Two new Cape gauge and one narrow gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:
 * April – The first of one hundred Class 34-400 General Electric (GE) type U26C diesel-electric locomotives.
 * The first of one hundred Class 6E1, Series 4 electric locomotives.
 * September–December – Twenty Class 91-000 GE type UM6B narrow gauge diesel-electric locomotives on the Avontuur Railway.