1936 in South Africa

Incumbents

• Monarch: King George V, King George VI.
• Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: The Earl of Claredon.
• Prime Minister: James Barry Munnik Hertzog.
• Chief Justice: John Wessels then John Stephen Curlewis.

  Events

• Trolleybuses begin to operate in Cape Town.

• 7 - The Representation of Natives Act no 16 of 1936 is passed, the first of a series of laws to diminish the voting rights of non-Whites in the Cape Province.

• 2 - Die Vaderland, the first Afrikaans daily newspaper in Transvaal, begins publishing in Johannesburg.

• 15 - The Empire Exhibition, South Africa opens in Johannesburg.

• The Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town is proclaimed a National Monument.

  Births

• 22 January - Clive Derby-Lewis, politician, played a role in the assassination of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani
• 18 March - F. W. de Klerk, 10th State President of South Africa.
• 20 June - Dick Lord, South African Air Force and Fleet Air Arm fighter pilot.
• 21 June - Lionel Davis, artist, in Cape Town.
• 26 September - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Apartheid Activist South Africa
• 22 October - Neville Alexander in Cradock.

  Deaths

• 2 July - Lionel Phillips, mining magnate, chairman of the South African Chamber of Mines and politician, at Vergelegen, Somerset West.

  Railways

Railway lines opened

• 1 May - Natal - Point to Congella,.
• 15 June - Cape - Palingpan to Manganore,.
• 30 June - Cape - Postmasburg to Lohatla,.

  Locomotives

• The South African Railways builds the first two of 24 Class ES centre-cab electric shunting locomotives in its Pietermaritzburg shops, based on the Class 1E mainline electric locomotive.