1978 in South Africa

Incumbents

• State President:
• * Nico Diederichs.
• * Marais Viljoen.
• * John Vorster.
• Prime Minister:
• * John Vorster.
• * P.W. Botha.
• Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

  Events

• Former African National Congress member Steve Mtshali, state witness in various trials, is shot and wounded.

• 2 - Guerrillas attack the Daveyton police station.
• 2 - Kaiser Matanzima breaks all diplomatic ties with South Africa and announces that all South African Defence Force members seconded to the Transkei Army will leave Transkei by 31 March.
• 2 - The Eastern Cape Attorney-General refuses to prosecute policemen involved in the arrest and detention of Steve Biko.
• A bomb capable of destroying a 22-storey building is found in a Johannesburg office block and defused.

• 10 - A bomb explodes outside the offices of the Bantu Affairs building in Port Elizabeth, killing one civilian.

• 14 - Abel Mthembu, former deputy president of the ANC in the Transvaal, turns state witness at the Pretoria ANC trial.

• 4 - The South African Defence Force launches an airborne attack on Cassinga in Angola during Operation Reindeer.
• 4 - Azanian People's Organisation members Ishmael Mkhabela and Lybon Mabasa are arrested in Soweto.

• 21 - Marais Viljoen becomes acting State President of South Africa.
• 23 - Operation Saffraan, a South African Defence Force retaliatory raid, is carried out in Zambia.

• The African National Congress attempts to kill about 500 of its own cadres by poisoning their food because an infiltrated enemy agent could not be identified.

• 9 - P.W. Botha succeeds John Vorster as Prime Minister of South Africa.
• 10 - John Vorster becomes State President of South Africa.
• 31 - The South African Railways sets a still unbeaten world rail speed record.

• A bomb explodes at the Soweto Community Council offices.

• The South African Defence Force attacks several SWAPO bases in Angola during Operation Bruilof.
• The SADF's 32 Battalion moves into southern Angola to flush out SWAPO members during Operation Seiljag.
• George Bizos becomes a senior member of the Johannesburg Bar.
• The Atomic Energy Corporation builds South Africa's first nuclear weapon device.
• South Korea ends diplomatic relations with South Africa it established in 1961, in protest of apartheid.

  Births

• 23 February - Siyabonga Shibe, actor
• 24 February - Bolla Conradie, rugby player
• 28 February - Rowen Fernández, football player
• 22 March - Heinz Winckler, singer
• 27 March - Professor, recording artist
• 3 April - John Smit, Springboks, rugby captain
• 6 April - Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Springbok rugby player
• 6 May - Danie Rossouw, Jaco van der Westhuyzen
• 8 May - Nkhensani Kubayi-Ngubane, national minister
• 25 June - De Wet Barry, Springbok rugby player
• 30 June - Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, national minister
• 8 August - Lawrence Sephaka, Springbok rugby player
• 10 August - Karen Zoid, singer
• 23 October - Wayne Julies, Springbok rugby player
• 7 November - Katlego Danke, actress
• 20 November - Neil de Kock, Springbok rugby player
• 18 December - Lulu Dikana, singer, older sister of singer Zonke
• 29 December - André Pretorius, Springbok rugby player

  Deaths

• 8 January - Rick Turner, activist and academic.
• 12 January - Monty Naicker, medical doctor and activist.
• 6 July - Papwa Sewgolum, golfer.
• 21 August - Nico Diederichs, State President of South Africa.

  Railways

Locomotives

• Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:
• * August - The first of 58 Class 34-800 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives.
• * The first of one hundred Class 7E electric locomotives, the SAR's first 25 kV AC locomotive.
• * The first of twenty-five, Series 1 electric locomotives, the SAR's first 50 kV AC locomotive, on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line.
• 31 October - SAR Class 6E1, Series 4 locomotive no. E1525 reaches a speed of on a stretch of track between Westonaria and Midway, a still unbeaten world rail speed record on Cape gauge track.
• The SAR rebuilds Class 6E1, Series 5 no. E1600, a 3 kV DC electric locomotive, as a test-bed for use during 25 kV AC electrification.

  Sports

Motorsport

• 4 March - The South African Grand Prix takes place at Kyalami.