1951 in South Africa

Incumbents

• Monarch: King George VI.
• Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Gideon Brand van Zyl, Ernest George Jansen.
• Prime Minister: Daniel François Malan.
• Chief Justice: Albert van der Sandt Centlivres.

  Events

• 30 - The Group Areas Act, passed in 1950, becomes law.

• 14 - Cabinet votes for the removal of Coloured people from the voters roll.
• 24 - The first part of the Afrikaans Dictionary Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal is published, a project which was begun in 1926 by Prof. J.J. Smith of Stellenbosch University.

• 29 - Blacks, Coloureds and Indians meet for the first time to discuss a plan of action against race discrimination laws.
• 31 - The first Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the plant in Uitenhage.

• Max Theiler, virologist, is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing a vaccine for yellow fever, the first South African to receive a Nobel Prize.

  Births

• 3 January - Frank Chikane, civil servant, writer and cleric
• 17 February - Patricia De Lille, current Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure and leader of the political party Good
• 9 March - Helen Zille, federal council chairperson of the Democratic Alliance
• 26 July - Pieter Mulder, politician and the former leader of the Freedom Front Plus

  Deaths

• 6 April - Robert Broom, the Scottish paleontologist who discovered Mrs Ples.
• 23 May - Sefako Makgatho, the 2nd African National Congress president.
• 14 October - Herman Charles Bosman, writer and journalist.
• 5 November - Reggie Walker, athlete
• 28 November - Clements Kadalie, trade unionist.

  Railways

Railway lines opened

• 13 June - Transvaal: Grootvlei to Redan,.
• 21 December - Transvaal: Springs to Welgedag,.

  Sports

Canoeing

• 22 December - The first 200 kilometre Dusi Marathon, with four pairs of canoeists taking part, starts on the Umsindusi River which joins the Umgeni River in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Since only Ian Player stays the course and finishes, it is declared that there is no winner.

  Rugby

• 8 December - The Springboks beat Ireland 17–5 in Ireland.