1914 in South Africa

Incumbents

• Monarch: King George V.
• Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:
• * The Viscount Gladstone.
• * The Viscount Buxton.
• Prime Minister: Louis Botha.
• Chief Justice: John de Villiers, 1st Baron de Villiers then Sir James Rose Innes

  Events

• 8 - A railway strike is declared in the Transvaal and Orange Free State.

• 23 - The Afrikaans language receives official recognition when Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven addresses the English caucus of the Cape Provincial Council.

• 1 - The National Party is formed in Bloemfontein.
• 18 - Mahatma Gandhi leaves South Africa for the last time, sailing out of Cape Town for England on board the SS Kinfauns Castle.

• 8 - The Viscount Buxton is appointed the second Governor-General of the Union of South Africa.
• 10 - South Africa declares war on Germany.
• 13 - South African troops open hostilities in German South-West Africa with an assault on the Ramansdrift police station.
• 15 - The Maritz Rebellion against the government of the Union of South Africa begins.

• The steamship Clan Stuart is blown ashore between Glencairn and Simon's Town in the Cape Province.
• The Kimberley mine or "Big Hole" is closed.
• South Africa's government agree to many of the Indians' demands. Discriminatory taxes on Indian traders are abolished, the legality of non-Christian marriages is recognized and the continued immigration of free Indians is permitted.
• A new lighthouse is built at Cape Point.

  Births

• 3 July - Pat Pattle, World War II fighter pilot.
• 9 December - Shmuel Katz, Israeli writer, historian and journalist.

  Deaths

• 15 September - Koos de la Rey, Boer War general, is shot dead at a police roadblock.

  Railways

Railway lines opened

• 1 January - Cape - Kleipan to Birdfield,.
• 5 January - Natal - Winterton to Bergville,.
• 2 February - Natal - Ixopo to Madonela,.
• 23 February - Natal - Ahrens to Kranskop,.
• 4 March - Free State - Marsala to Frankfort,.
• 3 April - Cape - Gamtoos to Patensie,.
• 6 April - Cape - Caledon to Klipdale,.
• 5 May - Transvaal - Lilliput to Messina,.
• 18 May - Transvaal - Sabie to Graskop,.
• 25 May - Transvaal - Cranbourne to Modderbee,.
• September - Natal - Newleigh to Estcourt deviation,.
• 21 December - Transvaal - Bethal to Morgenzon,.

  Locomotives

• Forty-one Class 14A 4-8-2 Mountain type steam locomotives.
• Ten Class 15 Mountain type locomotives.
• The first of 119 Class 15A 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives.
• Twelve Class 16 4-6-2 Pacific type passenger steam locomotives.
• Fifteen Class MC1 2-6-6-0 Mallet articulated compound steam locomotives.
• Only two of the ten Class MJ 2-6-6-0 Mallet compound locomotives ordered from German manufacturer Maffei before the outbreak of World War I disrupts further delivery.