1976 in South Africa

Decades:	1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s;
See also:	; List of years in South Africa;

The following lists events that happened during 1976 in South Africa.

Incumbents edit

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.^[2]
23 – Prime Minister John Vorster and United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger hold talks in West Germany over the Rhodesian issue.

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.

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.

16 January – Jonathan Solomons, South African football player
20 January – Ian Syster, long-distance runner (d. 2004)
30 January – Kaya Malotana, former rugby player & tv rugby analyst
February – Johan Thom, visual artist^[3]
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), 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 (d. 2008)

19 March – Stuart Cloete, novelist, essayist and biographer (b. 1897)
26 April – Sid James, South African-born British actor (b. 1913)
16 June – Melville Edelstein, sociologist, killed due to Soweto uprising (b. 1919)
16 June – Hastings Ndlovu, Soweto uprising casualty (b. 1961)
16 June – Hector Pieterson, Soweto uprising casualty (b. 1963)
9 September – Ivan Mitford-Barberton, sculptor, writer and herald (b. 1896)
6 November – Sydney Skaife, entomologist and naturalist (b. 1889)

Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:

March – The first of one hundred Class 35-400 General Electric type U15C diesel-electric locomotives.^[4]^[5]^[6]
September – The first of one hundred Class 35-600 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT18MC diesel-electric locomotives.^[4]^[5]^[6]
The first of one hundred Class 6E1, Series 6 electric locomotives.^[5]^[6]

^ Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961-1994 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
^ Jeffery, Anthea (2009). People's War - New Light on the Struggle for South Africa (1st ed.). Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-86842-357-6.
^ "JOHAN THOM". KZNSA Artists, Gallery, Durban, South Africa. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. pp. 38, 42–43, 46.
^ ^a ^b ^c South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
^ ^a ^b ^c Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 128–129, 141–142. ISBN 0869772112.