1975 in South Africa

Incumbents

• State President:
• * Jim Fouché.
• * Jan de Klerk.
• * Nico Diederichs.
• Prime Minister: John Vorster.
• Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

  Events

• 28 - The FNLA approaches the South African Embassy in London and requests 40 to 50 artillery pieces to assist their cause in the Angolan Civil War.

• 15 - Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and senior Ministers visit South Africa for talks.
• 19 - The Labour Party wins the second elections to the Coloured Persons' Representative Council.
• 21 - The Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement is founded by Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
• 27 - The government announces that it will consolidate the 113 separate homeland areas into 36.

• 19 - Nico Diederichs becomes the 4th State President of South Africa.
• 30 - The World Meteorological Organization suspends South Africa from membership because of racial discrimination.

• 6 - The government announces that it will provide all Black children with free and compulsory education.

• 25 - The People's Republic of Mozambique becomes independent from Portugal.

• The Progressive Party merges with the Reform Party, a faction of the United Party, to form the Progressive Reform Party.

• 25 - The Victoria Falls Conference between Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and the United African National Council is held in a South African Railways coach on the Victoria Falls Bridge, officiated by Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and South African Prime Minister John Vorster.
• The first Cuban forces arrive in Angola to join Russian personnel who are there to assist the MPLA who controls less than a quarter of Angolan territory.
• The United States, Zaire and Zambia request South Africa to provide training and support for the FNLA and UNITA.

• 24 - Majors Kaas van der Wals and Holtzhausen, SADF liaison officers, are sent to Angola to assist UNITA.

• 14 - The SADF invades Angola during Operation Savannah in support of the FNLA and UNITA prior to the Angolan elections scheduled for 11 November.

• 11 - The People's Republic of Angola becomes independent from Portugal.
• 13–28 - In the Battle for Ebo, SADF and Angolan forces clash at Ebo in the Cuanza Sul province of Angola.
• 19 - The United States Congress approves the Clark Amendment, ending aid to the FNLA and UNITA.
• 25 - A South African Air Force Cessna 185 is shot down south of Ebo, killing pilot 2nd Lieutenant Keith Williamson, co-pilot 2nd Lieutenant Eric Thompson and South African Army battalion third-in-command Captain Danie Taljaard.
• 28 - South African Navy frigates evacuate 26 SADF members from behind enemy lines at Ambrizete, north of Luanda in Angola.

• Lillian Ngoyi's ban, confining her to Orlando Township in Johannesburg and forbidding her to attend any gatherings, is renewed for five years.
• The South West African Police Counter-Insurgency Unit, commonly known as Operation K, is launched.
• Operation Polo, South Africa's covert military intervention in the Rhodesian Bush War, begins.

  Births

• 9 January - André Vos, rugby player
• 29 January - David Tlale, fashion designer and businessman.
• 2 February - Thinus Delport, rugby player
• 4 February - Sthandiwe Kgoroge, actress.
• 21 March - Corné Krige, rugby player.
• 27 March - Bruce Jacobs, field hockey player.
• 16 April - Selborne Boome, rugby player.
• 23 June - Sibusiso Zuma, soccer player
• 2 July - Stefan Terblanche, rugby player.
• 7 July - Louis Koen, rugby player
• 17 July - Robbie Fleck, rugby player & coach.
• 31 July - Andrew Hall, cricketer
• 7 August - Charlize Theron, actress.
• 1 September - Winnie Ntshaba, actress.
• 11 September - Pierre Issa, soccer player
• 16 October - Jacques Kallis, all-rounder cricketer.
• 24 November - Neil McKenzie, cricketer
• 13 December - Bubu Mazibuko, actress.
• 17 December - Tim Clark, golfer.

Deaths

• 8 May - Bram Fischer, former South African Communist Party leader.

  Railways

Locomotives

• June - The South African Railways places the first of 124 Class 36-000 General Electric type SG10B diesel-electric locomotives in service.