1976 in South Africa

Incumbents

• State President: Nico Diederichs.
• Prime Minister: John Vorster.
• Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

  Events

• 5 - The SABC begins the country's first television service.

• 27 - The South African Defence Force withdraws from Angola and concludes Operation Savannah.

• 29 - Eskom announces that it will order two nuclear power stations from France.

• 16 - Student riots break out in Soweto and Hector Pieterson, Hastings Ndlovu and two white officials of the West Rand Board are some of the casualties.
• 23 - Prime Minister John Vorster and United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger hold talks in West Germany over the Rhodesian issue.

• 25–26 - Prime Minister John Vorster and President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda meet at Victoria Falls.

• 13 - The Cillié Commission of Inquiry into the 16 June riots in Soweto begins.
• 30 - Michael Lapsley, Anglican priest and social activist, arrives in Lesotho after his visa was not renewed in South Africa.

• 26 - Transkei gains independence from South Africa.

• Umkhonto we Sizwe's central operations headquarters is established and the process of establishing training camps in Angola begins with the establishment of Gabela Training Camp.

  Births

• 20 January - Ian Syster, long-distance runner
• 30 January - Kaya Malotana, former rugby player & tv rugby analyst
• 9 February - Colin Moss, actor and TV host
• 22 February - Faan Rautenbach, rugby player
• 2 March - Gaffie du Toit, rugby player
• 5 March - Wayne Denne, field hockey player
• 11 March - Black Coffee, DJ and record producer
• 30 March - Chantal Botts, badminton player
• 31 March - Thandiswa Mazwai, singer & songwriter
• 2 April - Rory Sabbatini, golfer
• 5 April - David Staniforth, field hockey goalkeeper
• 20 April - Calvin Marlin, football player
• 25 April - Breyton Paulse, rugby player
• 19 May - Zuluboy, rapper & actor
• 12 June - Stewart Carson, badminton player
• 3 July - Bobby Skinstad, Springboks captain
• 1 August - Lucky Lekgwathi, football player
• 24 August - DJ Tira, DJ, Record Producer and Businessman, founder of Afrotainment
• 11 September - Vuyo Dabula, actor
• 13 September - Linda Sokhulu, actress
• 3 October - Carl Beukes, actor
• 14 October - Tokollo Tshabalala, Kwaito musician, most well-known for being a member of music group TKzee
• 3 December - Mark Boucher, cricketer
• 15 December - Kabelo Mabalane, Kwaito musician, TV personality & Pastor
• 30 December - Ashley Callie, actress

  Deaths

• 19 March - Stuart Cloete, novelist, essayist and biographer
• 26 April - Sid James, South African-born British actor
• 16 June - Hastings Ndlovu, Soweto uprising casualty
• 16 June - Hector Pieterson, Soweto uprising casualty
• 9 September - Ivan Mitford-Barberton, sculptor, writer and herald
• 6 November - Sydney Skaife, entomologist and naturalist

  Railways

Locomotives

• March - The first of one hundred Class 35-400 General Electric type U15C diesel-electric locomotives.
• September - The first of one hundred Class 35-600 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT18MC diesel-electric locomotives.
• The first of one hundred Class 6E1, Series 6 electric locomotives.