1896 in South Africa

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Hercules Robinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Pieter Jeremias Blignaut, Martinus Theunis Steyn.
• State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Cecil John Rhodes, John Gordon Sprigg.
• Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal:.

  Events

• 2 - Leander Starr Jameson and his forces surrender at Doornkop near Krugersdorp.
• 6 - Cecil Rhodes is forced to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony for his involvement in the Jameson Raid.

• 19 - A train carrying 56 tons of dynamite explodes at Braamfontein, Johannesburg, killing more than 78 people.

• 13 - The Franchise Bill is passed by Natal's Legislative Assembly, disfranchising natives of other countries.

• 5 - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi embarks from Durban for Calcutta en route to Bombay.

• 6 - Cape Town's first electric tram service begins operation along Adderley Street to Mowbray Hill.

• 18 - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi arrives back in Durban with his wife and two sons, but the ship is placed under a 5-day quarantine because Bombay was declared a plague-infected port. Quarantine will later be extended to 13 January 1897.

• South Africa's first school of mines is opened in Kimberley. It will later form the core of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Births

• 12 January - Matthys Stefanus Benjamin Kritzinger, an Afrikaans literator and lexicographer, is born in the district of Carolina, Eastern Transvaal.
• 1 February - Stephanus Le Roux Marais, organist, teacher and composer of Afrikaans songs, is born in the district of Bloemfontein.
• 1 February - Ivan Mitford-Barberton, art teacher at the Michaelis School of Art in Cape Town and sculptor of several monuments in South Africa, is born in Somerset East.
• April - Clements Kadalie, trade unionist, is born at Chifira, Nkhata Bay District, Nyasaland.
• 3 May - Petrus Johannes Lemmer, composer of Afrikaans songs, is born in Hartbeesfontein, Transvaal.

  Deaths

• 17 September - Nicholaas Waterboer, Griqua chief and eldest son of Andries Waterboer, dies in Griekwastad.

  Railways

Railway lines opened

• 1 February - Cape Eastern - Sterkstroom to Indwe,.
• 1 April - Transvaal - Kaapmuiden to Barberton,.
• 2 November - Transvaal - Krugersdorp to Frederikstad,.

Locomotives

• Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways :
• * The first of a second batch of fifty 6th Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6A on the South African Railways.
• * The first of a second batch of forty-six 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives on the Midland and Eastern Systems. In 1912 they would be designated Class 7A on the SAR.
• Two 4-6-2 Pacific type tank locomotives enter service on the Metropolitan and Suburban Railway that operates a suburban passenger service between Cape Town and Sea Point.

• The Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouwerment-Spoorwegen places the first of twenty-four new Cape 6th Class 4-6-0| steam locomotives in service. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6C on the SAR.

• The Natal Government Railways rebuilds one of its Class G 4-6-0| tank locomotives to the first 4-6-4 Baltic type locomotive in the world. It was later designated the NGR Class H.

• The independent Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek places the first of three PPR 26 Tonner 0-6-0ST| saddle-tank locomotives in service.