← 1969 1968 1967 1970 in South Africa → 1971 1972 1973
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1970 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• State President: Jim Fouché.^[1]
• Prime Minister: John Vorster.
• Chief Justice: Lucas Cornelius Steyn.

Events

May

• 21 – Prime Minister John Vorster and Prime Minister of Rhodesia Ian Smith hold private talks.

June

• 12 – Mangosuthu Buthelezi is elected first Chief Executive Officer of the black homeland of KwaZulu.

December

• 7 – The U.N. General Assembly supports the isolation of South Africa for its apartheid policies.

Births

• 4 January – Marc Batchelor, soccer player (d. 2019)
• 7 January – Sizwe Motaung, soccer player (d. 2001)
• 30 January – Hans Vonk (footballer), soccer goalkeeper
• 30 March – Ruben Kruger, rugby player (d. 2010)
• 19 February – Kurt Darren, singer
• 2 March – Nicolene Neal, lawn bowler^[2]
• 30 March – Leleti Khumalo, actress
• 12 May – Steve Palframan, cricketer
• 22 May – Pollen Ndlanya soccer player
• 3 June – Johan Ackermann, rugby player & coach
• 10 June – Connie Ferguson, Botswana-born South African actress
• 20 June – Athol Williams (AE Ballakisten), poet and social philosopher
• 3 July – Deon Kayser, rugby player
• 30 July – Eric Tinkler, soccer player
• 8 August – Chester Williams, rugby player (d. 2019)
• 10 September – Phaswane Mpe, poet and novelist (d. 2004)
• 28 September – Vatiswa Ndara, actress
• 27 October – Tina Jaxa, actress
• 14 November – André Venter, rugby player
• 5 December – Sibusiso Vilane, adventurer, motivational speaker & author, first black African to summit Mount Everest

Deaths

Railways

Locomotives

• The South African Railways places the first of eighty Class 6E mainline electric locomotives in service. Two are also built for Iscor for use at the Sishen iron ore mine.^[3][4][5]

Sports

Rugby

• 10 January – The South African Springboks draw 8–8 with Ireland at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland.