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1903
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South Africa

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Decades:

Incumbents

Cape Colony

Natal

Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Edward McCallum.
Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Albert Henry Hime (until 17 August), George Morris Sutton (starting 17 August).

Orange River Colony

Governor of the Orange River Colony and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner.
Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony: Hamilton Goold-Adams.

Transvaal

Events

February

Mahatma Gandhi enrolls to the Bar of the Transvaal Supreme Court.

March

12 – Andries Dreyer, an archivist of the Dutch Reformed Church, is ordained as a missionary of the congregation for the Hanover Street area in Cape Town.

May

21 – The first contingent of Chinese labourers leave China to work on the Witwatersrand gold mines.

June

4 – The Indian Opinion is started by Mahatma Gandhi with Mansukhlal Nazar as editor.

Unknown date

The County of Pembroke, a British cargo ship, is shipwrecked near Port Elizabeth.

Births

11 January – Alan Paton, author and founder of the Liberal Party of South Africa, is born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal.
21 March – J. B. Marks, political activist and trade unionist, is born in Ventersdorp. (d. 1972)
4 May – Louise Behrens, novelist and Afrikaans journalist, is born in the Orange River Colony.
4 May – Hendrik Susan, orchestra leader and violist.
19 June – Wally Hammond, English first-class cricketer and South African sports administrator. (d. 1965)
8 October – Mikro (Pseudonym for C.H. Kühn), writer and poet, is born at Van Reenens Farm in the Williston district.

Deaths

21 February – Kate Vaughan, British dancer and actress (born 1852)
13 March – General David Johannes Joubert (Ou Kat), a South African explorer to East Africa, dies of malaria near Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
8 August – Adolf Schiel, German-born officer in Boer armed forces. (b. 1858)

Railways

Railway lines opened

19 February – Cape Central – Swellendam to Riversdale, 64 miles (103.0 kilometres).^[1]
28 February – Cape Western – Kalbaskraal to Hopefield (Narrow gauge), 46 miles 79 chains (75.6 kilometres).^[2]
22 March – Free State – Sannaspos to Thaba 'Nchu, 17 miles 3 chains (27.4 kilometres).^[1]
1 April – Free State – Harrismith to Aberfeldy, 20 miles 60 chains (33.4 kilometres).^[1]
27 April – Transvaal – India Junction to Driehoek (avoiding line), 55 chains (1.1 kilometres).^[1]
17 September – Natal – Mhlatuze to Somkele, 55 miles 17 chains (88.9 kilometres).^[1]
1 November – Transvaal – India Junction to New Canada, 14 miles 31 chains (23.2 kilometres).^[1]
12 November – Natal – Talana to Lucas Meyer, 50 miles 64 chains (81.8 kilometres).^[1]
14 December – Cape Eastern – King William's Town to Middledrift, 33 miles (53.1 kilometres).^[2]
14 December – Cape Midland – Cookhouse to Adelaide, 42 miles 52 chains (68.6 kilometres).^[2]
14 December – Cape Midland – Willowmore to Le Roux, 75 miles 49 chains (121.7 kilometres).^[2]

Locomotives

Cape

Nine new Cape gauge and two narrow gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):
- The last eight 3rd Class Wynberg Tender suburban locomotives in Cape Town.^[3]^[4]
- Two Karoo Class 4-6-2 Pacific passenger locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 5A on the South African Railways (SAR).^[3]^[4]
- Two 6th Class 2-6-2 Prairie locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 6Y on the SAR.^[3]^[4]
- A second batch of 38 8th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives, six on the Western, twenty on the Midland and twelve on the Eastern Systems. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8D on the SAR.^[3]^[4]
- Four additional 8th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives, built to modified specifications in order to accommodate a larger grate area. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8E on the SAR.^[3]^[4]
- Four Cape 8th Class 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8Y on the SAR.^[3]^[4]^[5]
- Two 9th Class 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotives. In 1912 they will be classified Class Experimental 4 on the SAR.^[3]^[4]^[5]
- A single experimental 2-8-0 Consolidation type tandem compound steam locomotive. In 1912 it will be classified as Class Experimental 3 on the SAR.^[4]^[5]^[6]
- A single experimental 0-6-0+0-6-0 Kitson-Meyer type articulated steam locomotive on the Eastern System.^[3]^[4]
- A single small Krauss 0-4-0 side-tank locomotive, for use as construction engine on the narrow gauge Avontuur branch.^[7]^[8]
- A single Krauss 0-6-0 tank locomotive, also for use as construction engine on the Avontuur branch.^[4]^[8]
Two locomotives, later named Thebus and Stormberg, enter service with the Irrigation Department of the Public Works Department of the Cape Colony.^[4]^[6]

Transvaal

Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Central South African Railways (CSAR):
- Six Reid Tenwheeler 4-10-2 tank locomotives are converted to a 4-8-2T configuration. In 1912 they will be designated Class H1 on the SAR.^[4]^[6]
- Thirty Class 8-L2 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8B on the SAR.^[3]^[4]
- Thirty Class 8-L3 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8C on the SAR.^[3]^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 184, ref. no. 200954-13
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Report for year ending 31 December 1909, Cape Government Railways, Section VIII - Dates of Opening and the Length of the different Sections in the Cape Colony, from the Year 1873 to 31st December, 1909.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. Vol. 1: 1859–1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, England: David & Charles. pp. 52–54, 56, 59–61, 63–65, 68–71, 127–128, 130–132. ISBN 978-0-7153-5382-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 18, 32, 39, 45, 48–50, 56, 82–84, 98, 111–112, 157. ISBN 0869772112.
^ ^a ^b ^c Classification of S.A.R. Engines with Renumbering Lists, issued by the Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Office, Pretoria, January 1912, pp. 9, 12, 15, 36 (Reprinted in April 1987 by SATS Museum, R.3125-6/9/11-1000)
^ ^a ^b ^c Holland, D. F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. Vol. 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, England: David & Charles. pp. 130–131, 136, 140. ISBN 978-0-7153-5427-8.
^ Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1944). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter II - The Cape Government Railways (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, April 1944. pp. 254–255.
^ ^a ^b Dulez, Jean A. (2012). Railways of Southern Africa 150 Years (Commemorating One Hundred and Fifty Years of Railways on the Sub-Continent – Complete Motive Power Classifications and Famous Trains – 1860–2011) (1st ed.). Garden View, Johannesburg, South Africa: Vidrail Productions. pp. 232–233. ISBN 9 780620 512282.

Years in South Africa (1901–present)

v t e 1903 in Africa
Sovereign states	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
States with limited recognition	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland
Dependencies and other territories	Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)