1902 in South Africa

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Walter Hely-Hutchinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Edward McCallum.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Martinus Theunis Steyn.
• State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Gordon Sprigg.
• Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony: Alfred Milner.
• Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Albert Henry Hime.

  Events

• 27 - Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria for the murder of Boer prisoners of war near Louis Trichardt.

• 7 - The Burghers win their last battle over British forces, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.

• 4 - The town Concordia in Namaqualand surrenders to Boer forces.
• 8 - O'okiep is besieged by Boer forces under General Jan Smuts.

• 1 - Commandos use the locomotive Pioneer to propel a truck-load of dynamite into the besieged O'okiep.
• 4 - Boer General Jan Smuts meets with the British General Herbert Kitchener at Kroonstad.
• 6 - Qulusi-Zulu chief Sikhobobo with a 300 strong impi attacks Field-cornet Potgieter and 70 Boers while sleeping, leaving 56 Burghers and 52 Zulus dead in the Holkrantz massacre.
• 31 - The Second Boer War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at Melrose House in Pretoria.

• Mahatma Gandhi arrives in Durban from Bombay.

• James Stevenson-Hamilton is appointed the first warden of the Sabie Game Reserve.

  Births

• 1 January - Buster Nupen, South African cricketer.

  Deaths

• 26 March - Cecil John Rhodes, businessman, mining magnate, imperialist and politician.
• 2 May - Jan Stephanus de Villiers, composer and organist, dies in Paarl.

  Railways

Railway lines opened

• 1 May - Free State - Bloemfontein to Sannaspos,.
• 18 July - Natal - Tugela to Mhlatuze,.
• 1 August - Cape Midland - Cookhouse to Somerset East,.
• 1 August - Cape Midland - Klipplaat to Willowmore,.
• 1 August - Cape Western - Sir Lowry's Pass Village to Caledon,.
• 15 November - Cape Western - Moorreesburg to Eendekuil,.

  Locomotives

• Four new Cape gauge and three narrow gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways :
• * Fourteen 6th Class bar framed 4-6-0 passenger steam locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 6J on the South African Railways.
• * The last ten 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives on the Eastern System. In 1912 they will be designated Class 7C on the SAR.
• * The first thirteen of twenty-three 8th Class 4-8-0| Mastodon locomotives on the Western, Midland and Eastern Systems. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8 on the SAR.
• * A single experimental 2-8-0| "Consolidation" type tandem compound steam locomotive, in 1912 designated Class Experimental 2 on the SAR.
• * Three Type A 2-6-0 Mogul type steam locomotives, later to become Class NG7 on the SAR, on the Hopefield narrow gauge branchline that is being constructed from Kalbaskraal.
• * Two Type A 2-6-4T Adriatic type narrow gauge locomotives on construction service on the new Avontuur branch that is being built out of Port Elizabeth through the Langkloof.
• * A single Type C 0-4-0 narrow gauge tank steam locomotive named Midget on the Avontuur branch.
• Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service with the East London and Table Bay Harbour Boards:
• * Two 0-6-0 saddle-tank locomotives enter shunting service at the East London Harbour.
• * Eleven 2-6-0 saddle-tank locomotives enter harbour shunting service in Table Bay Harbour.

• The Natal Government Railways places ten Class F Baltic type tank steam locomotives in service, the first known locomotive in the world to be designed and built as a Baltic. In 1912 they will be designated Class E on the SAR.
• The Natal Harbours Department places a single saddle-tank locomotive named Congella in service as harbour shunter in Durban Harbour.
• The Zululand Railway Company, contractors for the construction of the North Coast line from Verulam to the Tugela River, acquires two 2-6-0 Mogul type tender locomotives as construction engines, later to be designated Class I on the NGR.

• The Imperial Military Railways places forty Cape 8th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type steam locomotives in service. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8A on the SAR.