← 1970 1969 1968 1971 in South Africa → 1972 1973 1974
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1971 in South Africa.

Incumbents

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

Events

February

• 27 – The oil tanker Wafra grounds near Cape Agulhas, causing considerable environmental damage.^[2]

March

• 10 – Two Buccaneer aircraft of 24 Squadron SAAF, prescribed to by Headquarters, attempt to sink SS Wafra with AS-30 missiles but succeeds only in starting a fire.^[2]
• 12 – A Shackleton aircraft of 35 Squadron SAAF, not prescribed to by Headquarters, sinks SS Wafra in 6,000 feet (1,829 metres) of water using depth charges.^[2]

Unknown date

• St Lucia Lake and the turtle beaches and coral reefs of Maputaland are listed by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (RAMSAR).
• The International Court of Justice gives an advisory opinion supporting the view of the United Nations for South Africa to relinquish control of South West Africa.
• Kamuzu Banda, president of Malawi, is the first Black President to visit South Africa.

Births

• 20 February – Joost van der Westhuizen, rugby scrum-half (d. 2017)
• 3 March – Jet Novuka, actor
• 15 March – Naka Drotské, rugby player
• 8 April – Fikile Mbalula, national minister
• 22 April – Jannie de Beer, rugby player
• 13 May – Fana Mokoena, actor
• 28 June – Elon Musk, South African-born Canadian-American entrepreneur, engineer, inventor and investor^[3]
• 21 July – Robby Brink, rugby player
• 30 July – Mzukisi Sikali, triple world champion boxer (d. 2005)
• 4 September – Lance Klusener, cricket player
• 15 September – Wayne Ferreira, tennis player
• 28 September – Braam van Straaten, rugby player
• 8 October – Krynauw Otto, rugby player
• 22 October – Amanda Coetzer, tennis player
• 26 October – Brendan Augustine, soccer player
• 12 November – Gert Thys, long-distance runner
• 14 November – Nick Boraine, actor
• 29 November – Esme Kruger, lawn bowler^[4]
• 3 December – Pieter Rossouw, rugby player
• 17 December – Alan Khan, media and radio personality

Deaths

• 27 October – Ahmed Timol, activist and political leader. (b. 1941)

Railways

Locomotives

Four new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:

• July – The first of 125 Class 34-000 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives.^[5]
• October – The first of fifty Class 34-200 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives.^[5]
• Fifty Class 6E1, Series 2 electric locomotives.^[5][6]
• The first of one hundred and fifty Class 6E1, Series 3 locomotives.^[6]