1978 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1978 in South Africa.

Incumbents

 * State President:
 * Nico Diederichs (until 21 August).
 * Marais Viljoen (acting from 21 August until 9 October).
 * John Vorster (from 10 October).
 * Prime Minister:
 * John Vorster (until 2 October).
 * P.W. Botha (from 9 October).
 * Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

Events

 * January
 * Former African National Congress member Steve Mtshali, state witness in various trials, is shot and wounded.


 * February
 * 2 – Guerrillas attack the Daveyton police station.
 * 2 – Kaiser Matanzima breaks all diplomatic ties with South Africa and announces that all South African Defence Force members seconded to the Transkei Army will leave Transkei by 31 March.
 * 2 – The Eastern Cape Attorney-General refuses to prosecute policemen involved in the arrest and detention of Steve Biko.
 * A bomb capable of destroying a 22-storey building is found in a Johannesburg office block and defused.


 * March
 * 10 – A bomb explodes outside the offices of the Bantu Affairs building in Port Elizabeth, killing one civilian.


 * April
 * 14 – Abel Mthembu, former deputy president of the ANC in the Transvaal, turns state witness at the Pretoria ANC trial.


 * May
 * 4 – The South African Defence Force launches an airborne attack on Cassinga in Angola during Operation Reindeer.
 * 4 – Azanian People's Organisation members Ishmael Mkhabela and Lybon Mabasa are arrested in Soweto.


 * August
 * 21 – Marais Viljoen becomes acting State President of South Africa.
 * 23 – Operation Saffraan, a South African Defence Force retaliatory raid, is carried out in Zambia.


 * September
 * The African National Congress attempts to kill about 500 of its own cadres by poisoning their food because an infiltrated enemy agent could not be identified.


 * October
 * 9 – P.W. Botha succeeds John Vorster as Prime Minister of South Africa.
 * 10 – John Vorster becomes State President of South Africa.
 * 31 – The South African Railways sets a still unbeaten world rail speed record.


 * December
 * A bomb explodes at the Soweto Community Council offices.


 * Unknown date
 * The South African Defence Force attacks several SWAPO bases in Angola during Operation Bruilof.
 * The SADF's 32 Battalion moves into southern Angola to flush out SWAPO members during Operation Seiljag.
 * George Bizos becomes a senior member of the Johannesburg Bar.
 * The Atomic Energy Corporation builds South Africa's first nuclear weapon device.
 * South Korea ends diplomatic relations with South Africa it established in 1961, in protest of apartheid.

Births

 * 23 February – Siyabonga Shibe, actor
 * 24 February – Bolla Conradie, rugby player
 * 28 February – Rowen Fernández, football player
 * 22 March – Heinz Winckler, singer, winner of Idols South Africa (season 1)
 * 27 March – Professor (musician), recording artist
 * 30 March – Bok van Blerk, singer-songwriter
 * 3 April – John Smit, Springboks, rugby captain
 * 6 April – Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Springbok rugby player
 * 6 May – Danie Rossouw, Jaco van der Westhuyzen
 * 8 May – Nkhensani Kubayi-Ngubane, national minister
 * 7 June – DuPreez Strauss, music director, TV, theatre and radio producer, composer, lyricist, writer, casting director, orchestra conductor and TV personality
 * 25 June – De Wet Barry, Springbok rugby player
 * 30 June – Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, national minister
 * 8 August – Lawrence Sephaka, Springbok rugby player
 * 10 August – Karen Zoid, singer
 * 23 October – Wayne Julies, Springbok rugby player
 * 7 November – Katlego Danke, actress
 * 20 November – Neil de Kock, Springbok rugby player
 * 18 December – Lulu Dikana, singer, older sister of singer Zonke (d. 2014)
 * 29 December – André Pretorius, Springbok rugby player

Deaths

 * 8 January – Rick Turner, activist and academic. (b. 1941)
 * 12 January – Monty Naicker, medical doctor and activist. (b. 1910)
 * 27 February – Robert Sobukwe, political activist. (b. 1924)
 * 6 July – Papwa Sewgolum, golfer. (b. 1930)
 * 21 August – Nico Diederichs, State President of South Africa. (b. 1903)

Locomotives

 * Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:
 * August – The first of 58 Class 34-800 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives.
 * The first of one hundred Class 7E electric locomotives, the SAR's first 25 kV AC locomotive.
 * The first of twenty-five Class 9E, Series 1 electric locomotives, the SAR's first 50 kV AC locomotive, on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line.
 * 31 October – SAR Class 6E1, Series 4 locomotive no. E1525 reaches a speed of 245 km/h on a stretch of track between Westonaria and Midway, a still unbeaten world rail speed record on 3 feet 6 inches (1,067 millimetres) Cape gauge track.
 * The SAR rebuilds Class 6E1, Series 5 no. E1600, a 3 kV DC electric locomotive, as a test-bed for use during 25 kV AC electrification.

Motorsport

 * 4 March – The South African Grand Prix takes place at Kyalami.