1972 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1972 in South Africa.

← 1971 1970 1969 1972 in South Africa → 1973 1974 1975
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

Incumbents

• State President: Jim Fouché.[1]
• Prime Minister: John Vorster.
• Chief Justice: Newton Ogilvie Thompson.

Events

May

• 3 – Abram Onkgopotse Tiro is expelled from the University of the North and students protest the expulsion.
• 4 – South Africa and Lesotho decide to establish reciprocal consular representation.

August

• 12 – Oil tankers Oswego-Guardian and Texanita collide near Stilbaai.

October

• 1 – 1 Reconnaissance Commando is established at Oudtshoorn.

Unknown date

• A South African Special Forces team carry out a submarine-borne raid on the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam using the SAS Emily Hobhouse, a Daphne class submarine.
• The South African Police deploys to South West Africa.
• Conscription for all white males is extended from 9 to 12 months, followed by a 19-day annual call-up for five years.
• Operation Plathond, a joint South African Defence Force and South African Bureau of State Security operation, is launched to train dissident Zambians in the Caprivi Strip, South West Africa.

Births

• 2 February – Hendrick Ramaala, long-distance runner.
• 4 February – Sthandiwe Kgoroge, actress.
• 21 February – Mark Andrews (rugby player), rugby player.
• 12 March – Arno Carstens, singer-songwriter, lead singer of Springbok Nude Girls.
• 22 March – Baby Cele, actress.
• 26 March – Willem Jackson, football player
• 3 April – Alfred Ntombela, actor.
• 2 June – Irene van Dyk, South African and New Zealand netball player.
• 23 June – Slindile Nodangala, actress.
• 15 July – Sophie Ndaba, actress.
• 16 August – James Dalton (rugby player), rugby player.
• 25 August – Elmarie Gerryts, pole vaulter.
• 8 September – Os du Randt, Springboks rugby player.
• 16 October – Jacques Nienaber, Springboks coach.
• 28 October – David James, actor.
• 31 October – Shaun Bartlett, former soccer player & coach.
• 14 November – Florence Masebe, actress.
• 7 December – Sean Dundee, football player.
• 23 December – Somizi Mhlongo, choreographer, actor and radio personality.

Deaths

Class 35-000 (GE U15C)

• 14 May – Lawrence G. Green, journalist and author. (b. 1900)
• 11 August – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and physician and Nobel Prize laureate. (b. 1899)

Railways

Locomotives

• In March the South African Railways places the first of seventy Class 35-000 General Electric type U15C diesel-electric locomotives in branchline service.[2][3]

References

1. Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961-1994 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
2. South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610 mm and 1065 mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
3. Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 141–142. ISBN 0869772112.