← 1950 1949 1948 1951 in South Africa → 1952 1953 1954
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1951 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Monarch: King George VI.
• Governor-General: Ernest George Jansen (starting 1 January).
• Prime Minister: Daniel François Malan.
• Chief Justice: Albert van der Sandt Centlivres.

Events

March

• 30 – The Group Areas Act, passed in 1950, becomes law.

May

• 14 – Cabinet votes for the removal of Coloured people from the voters roll.
• 24 – The first part of the Afrikaans Dictionary Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT) is published, a project which was begun in 1926 by Prof. J.J. Smith of Stellenbosch University.

July

• 29 – Blacks, Coloureds and Indians meet for the first time to discuss a plan of action against race discrimination laws.

August

• 31 – The first Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the plant in Uitenhage.

Unknown date

• Max Theiler, virologist, is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing a vaccine for yellow fever, the first South African to receive a Nobel Prize.

Births

• 3 January – Frank Chikane, civil servant, writer and cleric
• 17 February – Patricia De Lille, current Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure (South Africa) and leader of the political party Good
• 9 March – Helen Zille, federal council chairperson of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
• 26 July – Pieter Mulder, politician and the former leader of the Freedom Front Plus
• 1 December – Nozipho Schroeder, lawn bowler^[1]

Deaths

• 6 April – Robert Broom, the Scottish paleontologist who discovered Mrs Ples. (b. 1866)
• 23 May – Sefako Makgatho, the 2nd African National Congress president. (b. 1861)
• 14 October – Herman Charles Bosman, writer and journalist. (b. 1905)
• 5 November – Reggie Walker, athlete (b. 1889)
• 28 November – Clements Kadalie, trade unionist. (b. 1896)

Railways

Railway lines opened

• 13 June – Transvaal: Grootvlei to Redan, 39 miles 1 chain (62.8 kilometres).^[2]
• 21 December – Transvaal: Springs to Welgedag, 5 miles 19 chains (8.4 kilometres).^[2]

Sports

Canoeing

• 22 December – The first 200 kilometre Dusi Marathon, with four pairs of canoeists taking part, starts on the Umsindusi River which joins the Umgeni River in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Since only Ian Player stays the course and finishes, it is declared that there is no winner.

Rugby

• 8 December – The Springboks beat Ireland 17–5 in Ireland.