1971 in South Africa

	1971 in South Africa
1968 1969 1970 « 1971 » 1972 1973 1974
List of years in South Africa

Incumbents

• State President: Jacobus Johannes Fouché

Events

February

• 27 – The oil tanker Wafra grounds near Cape Agulhas, causing considerable environmental damage.

March

• 10 – Two Buccaneer aircraft of 24 Squadron SAAF, prescribed to by Headquarters, attempt to sink the SS Wafra with AS-30 missiles, but succeeds only in starting a fire.
• 12 – A Shackleton aircraft of 35 Squadron SAAF, not prescribed to by Headquarters, sinks the SS Wafra in 1,830 metres (6,000 ft) of water using depth charges.

Unknown date

• St Lucia Lake and the turtle beaches and coral reefs of Maputaland are listed by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (RAMSAR).
• The International Court of Justice gives an advisory opinion, supporting the view of the United Nations for South Africa to relinquish control of South West Africa.

Births

• 28 April – Sifiso Adlin Emmanuel Zondo.
• 30 July – Mzukisi Sikali, world champion boxer. (d. 2005)
• 12 November – Gert Thys, long-distance runner.
• 17 December – Alan Khan, radio disk jockey.

Deaths

• March – Ephraim Mojalefa Ngatane, artist, dies from tuberculosis at the age of 33.
• 27 October – Ahmed Timol dies in police detention. (b. 1941)
• John Beaver Marks, political activist and trade unionist, dies in Moscow, Russia, after suffering a heart attack.

Railways

Locomotives

Four new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):

• July – The first of 125 Class 34-000 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives.
• October – The first of fifty Class 34-200 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives.
• Fifty Class 6E1, Series 2 electric locomotives.
• The first of one hundred and fifty Class 6E1, Series 3 locomotives.