1971 in South Africa

List of events

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1971
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South Africa

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Decades:

Incumbents

27 – The oil tanker Wafra grounds near Cape Agulhas, causing considerable environmental damage.^[2]

10 – Two Buccaneer aircraft of 24 Squadron SAAF, prescribed to by Headquarters, attempt to sink SS Wafra with AS-30 missiles but succeeds only in starting a fire.^[2]
12 – A Shackleton aircraft of 35 Squadron SAAF, not prescribed to by Headquarters, sinks SS Wafra in 6,000 feet (1,829 metres) of water using depth charges.^[2]

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.
Kamuzu Banda, president of Malawi, is the first Black President to visit South Africa.

20 February – Joost van der Westhuizen, rugby scrum-half (d. 2017)
3 March – Jet Novuka, actor
15 March – Naka Drotské, rugby player
8 April – Fikile Mbalula, national minister
22 April – Jannie de Beer, rugby player
13 May – Fana Mokoena, actor
28 June – Elon Musk, South African-born Canadian-American entrepreneur, engineer, inventor and investor^[3]
21 July – Robby Brink, rugby player
30 July – Mzukisi Sikali, triple world champion boxer (d. 2005)
4 September – Lance Klusener, cricket player
15 September – Wayne Ferreira, tennis player
28 September – Braam van Straaten, rugby player
8 October – Krynauw Otto, rugby player
22 October – Amanda Coetzer, tennis player
26 October – Brendan Augustine, soccer player
12 November – Gert Thys, long-distance runner
14 November – Nick Boraine, actor
29 November – Esme Kruger, lawn bowler^[4]
3 December – Pieter Rossouw, rugby player
17 December – Alan Khan, media and radio personality

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

July – The first of 125 Class 34-000 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives.^[5]
October – The first of fifty Class 34-200 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives.^[5]
Fifty Class 6E1, Series 2 electric locomotives.^[5]^[6]
The first of one hundred and fifty Class 6E1, Series 3 locomotives.^[6]

^ Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961-1994 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
^ ^a ^b ^c The Buccaneer Fiasco with the Sinking of the SS Wafra, by Simon van Garderen, ex 24 Squadron SAAF O.C. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Elon Musk | Biography, SpaceX, Tesla, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
^ "Lawn Bowls | Athlete Profile: Esme KRUGER - Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games". results.gc2018.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 128–129, 140–141. ISBN 0869772112.
^ ^a ^b South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended

v t e 1971 in Africa
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)