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Decades:

Incumbents

Events

11 – Two British £1-per-head tax collectors are killed near Richmond, sparking the Bambatha Rebellion led by Chief Bambatha kaMancinza, leader of the amaZondi clan of the Zulu people.^[1]

2 – Lord Alfred Milner, British colonial secretary and the High Commissioner for Southern Africa, returns to Britain.
6 – British troops kill over 60 Zulu warriors during a punitive expedition near Durban.

The first issue of the Annals of the Natal Government Museum (currently African Invertebrates) is published by Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

6 January – Walter Battiss, artist, is born in Somerset East (d. 1982)
5 March – Siegfried Mynhardt, actor, is born in Johannesburg. (d. 1996)
11 June – N.P. van Wyk Louw, poet, dramatist and essayist, is born in Sutherland, Cape Colony. (d. 1970)
30 October – Archibald Campbell Mzoliza Jordan, Xhosa writer and linguist, is born near Tsolo in the Cape Colony.
13 December – Laurens van der Post, author, farmer, war hero, political adviser, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer and conservationist, is born in Philippolis. (d. 1996)

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Transvaal – Nancefield to Pimville, 2 miles (3.2 kilometres).^[2]
22 January – Cape Central – Riversdale to Voorbaai, 58 miles (93.3 kilometres).^[2]
6 February – Free State – Jagersfontein to Fauresmith, 8 miles 23 chains (13.3 kilometres).^[2]
1 April – Cape Midland – Port Elizabeth to Humewood Road (Narrow gauge), 75 chains (1.5 kilometres).^[3]
6 April – Transvaal – Orkney to Fourteen Streams, 135 miles (217.3 kilometres).^[2]
16 May – Natal – Donnybrook to Creighton, 15 miles 3 chains (24.2 kilometres).^[2]
1 June – Natal – Ennersdale to Loskop, 12 miles 75 chains (20.8 kilometres).^[2]
21 June – Free State – Bethlehem to Kroonstad, 90 miles 15 chains (145.1 kilometres).^[2]
21 June – Transvaal – Pienaarsrivier to Settlers (Regauged), 26 miles 62 chains (43.1 kilometres).^[2]

1 August – Cape Western – Pampoenpoort to Carnarvon, 37 miles 27 chains (60.1 kilometres).^[3]
29 August – Cape Eastern – Elliot to Maclear, 54 miles 51 chains (87.9 kilometres).^[3]
1 December – Cape Midland – Humansdorp to Misgund (Narrow gauge), 86 miles 20 chains (138.8 kilometres).^[3]
15 December – Cape Midland – Valley Junction to Walmer (Narrow gauge), 3 miles 40 chains (5.6 kilometres).^[2]^[3]
17 December – Cape Eastern – Eagle to Butterworth, 22 miles 79 chains (37.0 kilometres).^[3]
26 December – Transvaal – Apex to Witbank, 69 miles 49 chains (112.0 kilometres).^[2]
27 December – Transvaal – Pretoria North to Rustenburg, 60 miles 34 chains (97.2 kilometres).^[2]

The Cape Government Railways places three locomotives in service, two of them experimental.
- An experimental 9th Class 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive. In 1912 it will be designated Class Experimental 5 on the South African Railways (SAR).^[4]^[5]
- An experimental 10th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon locomotive for the Cape Eastern System. In 1912 it will be designated Class Experimental 6 on the SAR.^[4]^[5]
- A single self-contained Railmotor for low-volume passenger service on the Franschhoek branchline.^[6]

The Natal Government Railways (NGR) modifies six of its 4-8-0 Class B locomotives to a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement, the first 4-8-2 Mountain type tender locomotive in the world. In 1912 it will be designated Class 1B on the South African Railways (SAR).^[5]
In April the NGR places two Class N 4-6-2 narrow gauge tank locomotives in service on the new narrow gauge line that is being built between Estcourt and Weenen.^[5]

^ Stuart, J. (1913). History of the Zulu Rebellion 1906. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. 548–581.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 185, ref. no. 200954-13
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f 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 Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. Vol. 1: 1859–1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, England: David & Charles. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-7153-5382-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 34–35, 83, 110–111, 157. ISBN 0869772112.
^ Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd drawing no. 12640

v t e 1906 in Africa
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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)