1981 in South Africa

Incumbents

• State President: Marais Viljoen.
• Prime Minister: P.W. Botha.
• Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

  Events

• 25 - The largest part of the town Laingsburg is swept away within minutes by one of the strongest floods ever experienced in the Great Karoo.
• 30 - The South African Defence Force launches Operation Beanbag and raids a suspected Umkhonto we Sizwe safe area in the suburb of Matola, Maputo, Mozambique, killing 12 to 24 people. The numbers reported killed vary.

• 9 - Tuks FM, the University of Pretoria's campus radio station, is established.
• Two people are injured when a bomb explodes in a Durban shopping centre.

• 1 - The South African Railways and Harbours changes its name to the South African Transport Services.
• 14 - A section of railway line between Richards Bay and Vryheid is destroyed by Umkhonto we Sizwe and coal trucks are derailed.
• 16 - Bishop Desmond Tutu is arrested and his passport is confiscated.
• 21 - Limpet mines explode and destroy two transformers at a sub-station in Durban.

• 6 - The railway in the Hoedspruit area is damaged.
• 14 - The United Nations General Assembly publishes a blacklist of 65 multi-national companies and some 270 sports persons who have links with South Africa.
• 21 - A bomb explodes and damages the Port Elizabeth rail link to Johannesburg and Cape Town.
• 25 - A pamphlet bomb explodes in Durban.
• 25 - The Fort Jackson Police station is attacked.
• 25 - The railway line near Soweto is damaged.
• 25 - The railway line on the Natal South Coast is damaged.
• 25 - Power lines are cut in Vrede.
• 25 - A series of terrorist actions in support of Republic Day protests are admitted by Umkhonto we Sizwe.
• 27 - A bomb explodes in Durban destroying a South African Defence Force recruiting building.

• 1 - Three offices of the Progressive Federal Party are firebombed in Johannesburg, with no injuries.
• 4 - The police station in Meyerton is attacked by terrorists.
• 11 - The railway line on the Natal North coast is maliciously damaged.
• 16 - The railway line near East London is maliciously damaged.
• 26 - Two bombs explode at the Durban Cenotaph.
• 28 - The railway near Empangeni is maliciously damaged.
• 30 - Zwelakhe Sisulu, President of the Black Media Workers Association of South Africa, is arrested under the Internal Security Act.

• 3 - A limpet mine is found at the fuel storage yard in Alberton and defused.
• 21 - Six bomb explosions at sub-stations in Pretoria, Middelburg, and Ermelo disrupt power supply.
• 26 - Two bombs explode at 05:50 and 06:10 in central Durban. Three people are injured and extensive damage is caused to motor vehicle firms.

• 6 - A bomb explodes in an East London shopping complex minutes before rush hour.
• 8 - A bomb explodes in a Port Elizabeth shopping centre in similar manner to the East London bomb.
• 11 - The Voortrekkerhoogte Military Base outside Pretoria is attacked with RPG-7s. Two British citizens, Nicolas Heath and Bonnie Lou Muller, are identified as accomplices in the assault.
• 19 - The railway line near East London is maliciously damaged.
• 23 - The South African Defence Force attacks South-West Africa People's Organisation bases in Xangongo and Ongiva, southern Angola during Operation Protea.

• 2 - Two policemen and two civilians, one a child, are killed during an attack on Mabopane Police station.
• 12 - A bomb damages the main railway line at Delville Wood near Durban.

• 10 - Umkhonto we Sizwe attacks government offices of the Department of Co-operation and Development. Four civilians are injured.
• 21 - Umkhonto we Sizwe destroys a transformer in Evander and a water pipeline feeding Sasol III in Secunda.
• 26 - Two policemen are killed during an attack on Sibasa Police station.

• 1 - The Jeppes Reef House near the Swaziland border, occupied by the South African Defence Force, comes under RPG-7 attack.
• 1 - The South African Defence Force attacks South-West Africa People's Organisation bases in Chitequeta, south-eastern Angola, during Operation Daisy.
• 9 - A bomb explodes at the Orlando Magistrates Court in Soweto.
• 12 - Rosslyn sub-station in Pretoria is damaged by 4 limpet mines.
• 27 - Cedric Mayson, a former Methodist minister, is arrested.

• 4 - South Africa grants Ciskei independence.
• 9 - The offices of the Chief Commissioner of the Department of Co-operation and Development in Cape Town is attacked.
• 14 - A Pretoria sub-station is bombed.
• 23 - Eastern Cape provincial buildings in Duncan Village are damaged in an Umkhonto we Sizwe attack.
• 26 - The Wonderboompoort Police station is attacked.

• Trevor Manuel becomes the General Secretary of the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee.
• Bulelani Ngcuka is detained by police for eight months.
• A Security Police counter-insurgency unit is started by Dirk Coetzee, Jan Viktor and Jac Buchner with 16 police officers at Vlakplaas.

  Births

• 13 January - Ayanda Borotho, actress
• 22 January - Khabonina Qubeka, actress, TV presenter, dancer, choreographer, fitness & wellness coach
• 1 February - Graeme Smith, cricketer
• 3 February - Jo-Ann Strauss, 2001 Miss South Africa
• 10 February - Maggie Benedict, actress
• 11 February - Alexander Peternell, equestrian rider
• 15 February - Lee-Anne Pace, golfer
• 20 February - Akona Ndungane, rugby player
• 20 February - Odwa Ndungane, rugby player
• 24 February - Jean De Villiers, Springboks captain
• 26 February - Bridget Masinga, 3rd in the 2002 Miss South Africa pageant, actress, television and radio personality
• 3 March - Julius Malema, Member of Parliament and the founder & leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters
• 16 April - Nasief Morris, football player
• 16 April - Gareth Echardt, figure skater
• 4 May - Jacques Rudolph, cricketer
• 11 May - Terry Pheto, actress
• 21 May - Jacques le Roux, tenor singer
• 26 May - Zakes Bantwini, musician, recording artist and record producer.
• 29 May - Iain Evans, field hockey player
• 10 June - Albie Morkel, cricketer
• 12 June - Gurthrö Steenkamp, rugby player
• 19 June - Quintin Geldenhuys, South African-born Italian rugby player
• 19 June - Dorian James, badminton player
• 22 June - Linda Mkhize, rapper and producer
• 6 July - Jenna Challenor, long-distance runner
• 30 July - Juan Smith, rugby player
• 4 September - Lesley Manyathela, football player
• 8 September - Ashwin Willemse, rugby player & tv rugby analyst
• 29 September - Siyabonga Sangweni, football player
• 19 October - Lucas Thwala, football player
• 22 December - Tumi Morake, comedienne, actress & TV personality
• 26 December - Shu-Aib Walters, football player

  Deaths

• 19 November - Griffiths Mxenge, activist.

  Railways

Locomotives

• 5 February - Rebuilding of the Class 26 4-8-4 steam locomotive, popularly known as the Red Devil, is completed at the Salt River Works in Cape Town.
• Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:
• * May - One hundred Class 37-000 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26M2C diesel-electric locomotives.
• * The first of eighty-five Class 6E1, Series 9 electric locomotives.

  Sports

Athletics

• 17 October - Mark Plaatjes wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:16:17 in Potchefstroom.

  Rugby

• 30 May - The South African Springboks beat Ireland 23–15.
• 6 June - The Springboks beat Ireland 12–10.
• 14 August - The South African Springbok tour in New Zealand elicits protests.