1927 in South Africa

List of events

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Decades:

1900s
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1920s
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1940s

Incumbents

Monarch: King George V.
Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: The Earl of Athlone.
Prime Minister: James Barry Munnik Hertzog.
Chief Justice: James Rose Innes then William Henry Solomon

Events

March

4 – An organised diamond rush includes trained athletes who have been hired by major companies to stake claims.

August

20 – The restored manor house of Groot Constantia is reopened after a fire devastated it in 1925.

Unknown date

The South African Railways (SAR) begins to convert the couplers of its Cape Gauge rolling stock from the Johnston link-and-pin coupling system, which had been in use since 1873, to AAR knuckle couplers.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Births

13 January – Sydney Brenner, biologist and Nobel Prize laureate, in Germiston, Johannesburg. (d. 2019)
13 May – Duma Nokwe, first black advocate of the Supreme Court of Transvaal and politician, (d. 1978)
20 March – John Joubert, South African–born British composer. (d. 2019)
10 June – Mizream Maseko, artist and Zion Christian Church deacon.
12 June – John Nkadimeng, politician, (d. 2020)
26 June – Ben Turok, activist, economics professor, former ANC member of parliament. (d. 2019)
22 October – Allan Hendrickse, politician, in Uitenhage. (d. 2005)

Deaths

Railways

Railway lines opened

7 January – Cape – Sunland to Kirkwood, 14 miles 54 chains (23.6 kilometres).^[4]
10 February – Transvaal – Solarvale to Mount Carmel, 2 miles 25 chains (3.7 kilometres).^[4]
27 April – Cape – Landplaas to Bitterfontein, 31 miles 63 chains (51.2 kilometres).^[4]
1 July – Transvaal – Makwassie to Vermaas, 59 miles 29 chains (95.5 kilometres).^[4]
4 July – Natal – Candover to Golela, Transvaal, 12 miles 27 chains (19.9 kilometres).^[4]
14 September – Cape – Imvani to Qamata, 26 miles 79 chains (43.4 kilometres).^[4]

Locomotives

Seven new steam locomotive types, five Cape gauge and two narrow gauge, enter service on the SAR. All the Cape Gauge locomotives were delivered equipped with the new AAR knuckle couplers.

Ten Class HF 2-8-2+2-8-2 Double Mikado type Modified Fairlie articulated steam locomotives.^[5]^[1]
Thirteen Class GCA 2-6-2+2-6-2 Double Prairie type Garratt articulated branchline locomotives.^[5]^[1]
Thirty-seven Class GF 4-6-2+2-6-4 Double Pacific type Garratt locomotives.^[5]^[1]^[6]
Ten Class U 2-6-2+2-6-2 Double Prairie type Union Garratt articulated locomotives.^[5]^[1]
In December, the first of two Class 18 2-10-2 Santa Fe type locomotives.^[1]
Two Class NG G12 2-6-2+2-6-2 Double Prairie type narrow gauge Garratt locomotives. They are the smallest Garratt locomotives to see service in South Africa.^[5]
The first three Class NG G13 2-6-2+2-6-2 Double Prairie type Garratt locomotives, on the Langkloof and Alfred County Railway narrow gauge railways.^[5]^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Holland, D. F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. Vol. 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, England: David & Charles. pp. 51–56. ISBN 978-0-7153-5427-8.
^ South African Railways & Harbours/Suid Afrikaanse Spoorweë en Hawens (15 August 1941). Locomotive Diagram Book/Lokomotiefdiagramboek, 3'6" Gauge/Spoorwydte. SAR/SAS Mechanical Department/Werktuigkundige Dept. Drawing Office/Tekenkantoor, Pretoria. p. 32.
^ South African Railways & Harbours/Suid Afrikaanse Spoorweë en Hawens (15 August 1941). Locomotive Diagram Book/Lokomotiefdiagramboek, 2'0" & 3'6" Gauge/Spoorwydte, Steam Locomotives/Stoomlokomotiewe. SAR/SAS Mechanical Department/Werktuigkundige Dept. Drawing Office/Tekenkantoor, Pretoria. p. 32.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 189, ref. no. 200954-13
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 10–11, 90, 92, 96–98, 106–107, 110. ISBN 0869772112.
^ Hamilton, Gavin N., The Garratt Locomotive - Garratt Locomotives from Other Builders, retrieved 10 November 2012
^ Durrant, AE (1989). Twilight of South African Steam (1st ed.). Newton Abbott: David & Charles. p. 124. ISBN 0715386387.

Years in South Africa (1901–present)

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Sovereign states	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
States with limited recognition	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland
Dependencies and other territories	Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)