1883 in South Africa

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Hercules Robinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.
• State President of the South African Republic: Triumviate of Paul Kruger, Marthinus Wessel Pretorius and Piet Joubert, Paul Kruger.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Thomas Charles Scanlen.

  Events

• 16 - Paul Kruger is re-elected president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.

• 9 - Paul Kruger is sworn in as president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.

• 22 - Zulu King Cetshwayo barely escapes with his life in a rebel attack.

• 6 - The United States of Stellaland is established when the Republics of Stellaland and Goshen unite.
• 12 - The last Quagga in the world dies in captivity at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam, making the species extinct.

  Births

• February - Zakea Dolphin Mangoaela, Basotho folklorist and writer.

  Deaths

• 9 August - Robert Moffat, Scottish Congregationalist missionary. Dies in Leigh near Tunbridge Wells, England.

  Railways

Railway lines opened

• 5 May - Cape Western - Muizenberg to Kalkbaai,.
• 14 May - Cape Western - Beaufort West to Victoria West Road,.
• 15 October - Cape Eastern - Queenstown to Sterkstroom,.
• 16 October - Cape Midland - Cradock to Colesberg,.

  Locomotives

• Eighteen 3rd Class 4-4-0 tender passenger locomotives are delivered to the Cape Government Railways from Neilson and Company and placed in passenger service out of Cape Town, East London and Port Elizabeth respectively.