# 1978 in South Africa

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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

* 16 January – Judi van Niekerk, synchronised swimmer
* 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)

## Railways
### 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 kilometres per hour (152 miles per hour) 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.

## Sports
### Motorsport

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