1896 in South Africa

← 1895 1894 1893 1896 in South Africa → 1897 1898 1899
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	1896 in South African sport List of years in South Africa

Events

January

• 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.

February

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

May

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

June

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

August

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

December

• 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.

Unknown date

• 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 (now Malawi).
• 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, 67 miles (107.8 kilometres).
• 1 April – Transvaal – Kaapmuiden to Barberton, 34 miles (54.7 kilometres).
• 2 November – Transvaal – Krugersdorp to Frederikstad, 52 miles (83.7 kilometres).

Locomotives

Cape

• Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):
  • 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 (SAR).
  • 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.

Free State

• 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.

Natal

• The Natal Government Railways (NGR) 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.

Transvaal

• The independent Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (Transvaal Republic) places the first of three 26 Tonner saddle-tank locomotives in service.