← 1975 1974 1973 1976 in South Africa → 1977 1978 1979
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1976 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• State President: Nico Diederichs.^[1]
• Prime Minister: John Vorster.
• Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

Events

January

• 5 – The SABC begins the country's first television service.

March

• 27 – The South African Defence Force withdraws from Angola and concludes Operation Savannah.

May

• 29 – Eskom announces that it will order two nuclear power stations from France.

June

• 16 – Student riots break out in Soweto and Hector Pieterson, Hastings Ndlovu and two white officials of the West Rand Board are some of the casualties.^[2]
• 23 – Prime Minister John Vorster and United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger hold talks in West Germany over the Rhodesian issue.

August

• 25–26 – Prime Minister John Vorster and President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda meet at Victoria Falls.

September

• 13 – The Cillié Commission of Inquiry into the 16 June riots in Soweto begins.
• 30 – Michael Lapsley, Anglican priest and social activist, arrives in Lesotho after his visa was not renewed in South Africa.

October

• 26 – Transkei gains independence from South Africa.

Unknown date

• Umkhonto we Sizwe's central operations headquarters is established and the process of establishing training camps in Angola begins with the establishment of Gabela Training Camp.

Births

• 16 January – Jonathan Solomons, South African football player
• 20 January – Ian Syster, long-distance runner (d. 2004)
• 30 January – Kaya Malotana, former rugby player & tv rugby analyst
• February – Johan Thom, visual artist^[3]
• 9 February – Colin Moss, actor and TV host
• 22 February – Faan Rautenbach, rugby player
• 2 March – Gaffie du Toit, rugby player
• 5 March – Wayne Denne, field hockey player
• 11 March – Black Coffee (DJ), DJ and record producer
• 30 March – Chantal Botts, badminton player
• 31 March – Thandiswa Mazwai, singer & songwriter
• 2 April – Rory Sabbatini, golfer
• 5 April – David Staniforth, field hockey goalkeeper
• 20 April – Calvin Marlin, football player
• 25 April – Breyton Paulse, rugby player
• 19 May – Zuluboy, rapper & actor
• 12 June – Stewart Carson, badminton player
• 3 July – Bobby Skinstad, Springboks captain
• 1 August – Lucky Lekgwathi, football player
• 24 August – DJ Tira, DJ, Record Producer and Businessman, founder of Afrotainment
• 11 September – Vuyo Dabula, actor
• 13 September – Linda Sokhulu, actress
• 3 October – Carl Beukes, actor
• 14 October – Tokollo Tshabalala, Kwaito musician, most well-known for being a member of music group TKzee
• 3 December – Mark Boucher, cricketer
• 15 December – Kabelo Mabalane, Kwaito musician, TV personality & Pastor
• 30 December – Ashley Callie, actress (d. 2008)

Deaths

• 19 March – Stuart Cloete, novelist, essayist and biographer (b. 1897)
• 26 April – Sid James, South African-born British actor (b. 1913)
• 16 June – Melville Edelstein, sociologist, killed due to Soweto uprising (b. 1919)
• 16 June – Hastings Ndlovu, Soweto uprising casualty (b. 1961)
• 16 June – Hector Pieterson, Soweto uprising casualty (b. 1963)
• 9 September – Ivan Mitford-Barberton, sculptor, writer and herald (b. 1896)
• 6 November – Sydney Skaife, entomologist and naturalist (b. 1889)

Railways

Locomotives

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

• March – The first of one hundred Class 35-400 General Electric type U15C diesel-electric locomotives.^[4][5][6]
• September – The first of one hundred Class 35-600 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT18MC diesel-electric locomotives.^[4][5][6]
• The first of one hundred Class 6E1, Series 6 electric locomotives.^[5][6]