1974 in South Africa

← 1973 1972 1971 1974 in South Africa → 1975 1976 1977
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1974 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Jim Fouché.^[1]
• John Vorster
  .
• Chief Justice: Newton Ogilvie Thompson then Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

Events

January

• 4 – Harry Schwarz and Chief Minister of KwaZulu Gatsha Buthelezi sign the Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith.
• 11 –
  sextuplets in the world where all six babies survive.^[2]

• 18 – Members of the World Council of Churches's Executive or Central Committee are banned from South Africa.
• 19 – The Narcotics Bureau of the South African Police is established.
• 19 – Harry Schwarz and Chief Minister Cedric Phatudi of Lebowa sign the Seshego Declaration.

April

• 24 – A whites only
  general election takes place and is won by the National Party
  .
• 25 – A coup in Portugal leads to that country's withdrawal from its colonies in Angola and Mozambique.

May

• 29 –
  John Vorster and Prime Minister of Rhodesia Ian Smith meet and agree to co-operative co-existence with and non-interference in the internal affairs of a black-ruled Mozambique
  .

• 7 – New Zealand imposes a blanket ban on sports teams from South Africa.^[3]

September

• 22–23 –
  President of Côte d'Ivoire Félix Houphouët-Boigny
  hold talks.

• 25 – Pik Botha declares at the United Nations that South Africa is beginning to make far-reaching reforms.

November

• 12 – The United Nations General Assembly suspends South Africa from participating in its work, due to international opposition to the policy of apartheid. South Africa was re-admitted to the UN in 1994 following its transition into a democracy.
• 26 –
  Helen Morgan
  resigns four days after winning the 24th Miss World pageant.

Unknown date

• The Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line is opened.^[4]

Births

• 4 January – Sindi Dlathu, actress
• 2 February – André Snyman, rugby player
• 7 February – Steve Nash, South African-born Canadian basketball player
• 23 February – Herschelle Gibbs, cricketer
• 23 February – Robbi Kempson, rugby player
• 5 March – Megan Hall, triathlete
• 14 March – Mark Fish, soccer player
• 15 March – Percy Montgomery, Springbok rugby player
• 16 March – Brian Baloyi, soccer player
• 27 March – George Koumantarakis, football player
• 29 March – Basetsana Kumalo, first runner-up in Miss World 1994, businesswoman, tv personality
• 13 April – K. Sello Duiker, novelist (d. 2005)
• 21 April – Tony Kgoroge, actor
• 26 April – Louise Barnes, actress
• 11 June – Ricardo Loubscher, rugby player
• 21 June – Mandla Mandela, chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and the grandson of Nelson Mandela
• 22 June – Alfred Phiri, soccer player
• 26 June – Cyril Nzama, soccer player
• 29 June – Judith Sephuma, singer
• 30 June – Hezekiél Sepeng, middle-distance athlete
• 11 July – Michelle Claire Edwards, badminton player
• 17 July – Linda Sibiya, radio, television personality and motivational speaker
• 26 September –
  Ninja (Die Antwoord)
  , recording artist, rapper, record producer and actor
• 27 October – Thabo Mooki, soccer player
• 8 November – Penny Heyns, breast-stroke swimmer
• 17 December – Charl Langeveldt, cricketer

Deaths

• 1 February – Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, militant student leader. (b. 1947)
• 2 February – Thomas Sturgess, an Indian cricketer, dies in Cape Town (b. 1898)
• 22 March – Peter Revson, American race car driver, died in pre-race crash at the South African Grand Prix in Midrand. (b. 1939)
• 3 April – Ossie Newton-Thompson, cricketer and politician. (b. 1920)
• 20 May – Leontine Sagan, director and actress. (b. 1889)
• 28 May – Matthew Frew, Air Vice Marshal of the South African Air Force, died in Pretoria. (b. 1895)

Railways

Locomotives

• Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the
  South African Railways
  :
  • The first of one hundred Class 6E1, Series 5 electric locomotives.^[4][5][6]
  • November – The first of 150 Class 35-200 General Motors Electro-Motive Division (GM-EMD) type GT18MC diesel-electric locomotives.^[4][5]
  • December – The first of 100 Class 34-600 GM-EMD type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives.^[4][5]
• ISCOR places the first of forty-four Class 34-500 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives in service on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line.^[4][5]

Sports

• 6 May – The
  British and Irish Lions begin a controversial twenty-two match rugby union tour of South Africa and Rhodesia
  .