1903 in South Africa

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Walter Hely-Hutchinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Edward McCallum.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Gordon Sprigg.
• Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony: Alfred Milner.
• Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Albert Henry Hime, George Morris Sutton.

  Events

• Mahatma Gandhi enrolls to the Bar of the Transvaal Supreme Court.

• 12 - Andries Dreyer, an archivist of the Dutch Reformed Church, is ordained as a missionary of the congregation for the Hanover Street area in Cape Town.

• 21 - The first contingent of Chinese labourers leave China to work on the Witwatersrand gold mines.

• 4 - The Indian Opinion is started by Mahatma Gandhi with Mansukhlal Nazar as editor.

• The County of Pembroke, a British cargo ship, is shipwrecked near Port Elizabeth.

  Births

• 11 January - Alan Paton, author and founder of the Liberal Party of South Africa, is born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal.
• 21 March - John Beaver Marks, political activist and trade unionist, is born in Ventersdorp.
• 4 May - Louise Behrens, novelist and Afrikaans journalist, is born in the Orange Free State.
• 4 May - Hendrik Susan, orchestra leader and violist.
• 19 June - Wally Hammond, English first-class cricketer and South African sports administrator.
• 8 October - Mikro, writer and poet, is born at Van Reenens Farm in the Williston district.

  Deaths

• 13 March - General David Johannes Joubert, a South African explorer to East Africa, dies of malaria near Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
• 8 August - Adolf Schiel, German-born officer in Boer armed forces.

  Railways

Railway lines opened

• 19 February - Cape Central - Swellendam to Riversdale,.
• 28 February - Cape Western - Kalbaskraal to Hopefield,.
• 22 March - Free State - Sannaspos to Thaba 'Nchu,.
• 1 April - Free State - Harrismith to Aberfeldy,.
• 27 April - Transvaal - India Junction to Driehoek,.
• 17 September - Natal - Mhlatuze to Somkele,.
• 1 November - Transvaal - India Junction to New Canada,.
• 12 November - Natal - Talana to Lucas Meyer,.
• 14 December - Cape Eastern - King William's Town to Middledrift,.
• 14 December - Cape Midland - Cookhouse to Adelaide,.
• 14 December - Cape Midland - Willowmore to Le Roux,.

  Locomotives

• Nine new Cape gauge and two narrow gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways :
• * The last eight 3rd Class Wynberg Tender suburban locomotives in Cape Town.
• * Two Karoo Class 4-6-2| Pacific passenger locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 5A on the South African Railways.
• * Two 6th Class 2-6-2 Prairie locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 6Y on the SAR.
• * A second batch of 38 8th Class 4-8-0| Mastodon type locomotives, six on the Western, twenty on the Midland and twelve on the Eastern Systems. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8D on the SAR.
• * Four additional 8th Class 4-8-0| Mastodon type locomotives, built to modified specifications in order to accommodate a larger grate area. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8E on the SAR.
• * Four Cape 8th Class 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8Y on the SAR.
• * Two 9th Class 2-8-2| Mikado steam locomotives. In 1912 they will be classified Class Experimental 4 on the SAR.
• * A single experimental 2-8-0| Consolidation type tandem compound steam locomotive. In 1912 it will be classified as Class Experimental 3 on the SAR.
• * A single experimental 0-6-0+0-6-0| Kitson-Meyer type articulated steam locomotive on the Eastern System.
• * A single small Krauss side-tank locomotive, for use as construction engine on the narrow gauge Avontuur branch.
• * A single Krauss 0-6-0 tank locomotive, also for use as construction engine on the Avontuur branch.
• Two locomotives, later named Thebus and Stormberg, enter service with the Irrigation Department of the Public Works Department of the Cape Colony.

• Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Central South African Railways :
• * Six Reid Tenwheeler 4-10-2 tank locomotives are converted to a configuration. In 1912 they will be designated Class H1 on the SAR.
• * Thirty Class 8-L2 4-8-0| Mastodon type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8B on the SAR.
• * Thirty Class 8-L3 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8C on the SAR.