← 1980 1979 1978 1981 in South Africa → 1982 1983 1984
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1981 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• State President: Marais Viljoen.^[1]
• Prime Minister: P.W. Botha.
• Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

Events

January

• 25 – The largest part of the town Laingsburg is swept away within minutes by one of the strongest floods ever experienced in the Great Karoo.
• 30 – The South African Defence Force launches Operation Beanbag and raids a suspected Umkhonto we Sizwe safe area in the suburb of Matola, Maputo, Mozambique, killing 12 to 24 people. The numbers reported killed vary.^[2]

February

• 9 – Tuks FM (107.2FM), the University of Pretoria's campus radio station, is established.^[3]
• Two people are injured when a bomb explodes in a Durban shopping centre.

April

• 1 – The South African Railways and Harbours changes its name to the South African Transport Services.
• 14 – A section of railway line between Richards Bay and Vryheid is destroyed by Umkhonto we Sizwe and coal trucks are derailed.
• 16 – Bishop Desmond Tutu is arrested and his passport is confiscated.
• 21 – Limpet mines explode and destroy two transformers at a sub-station in Durban.

May

• 6 – The railway in the Hoedspruit area is damaged.
• 14 – The United Nations General Assembly publishes a blacklist of 65 multi-national companies and some 270 sports persons who have links with South Africa.
• 21 – A bomb explodes and damages the Port Elizabeth rail link to Johannesburg and Cape Town.
• 25 – A pamphlet bomb explodes in Durban.
• 25 – The Fort Jackson Police station is attacked.
• 25 – The railway line near Soweto is damaged.
• 25 – The railway line on the Natal South Coast is damaged.
• 25 – Power lines are cut in Vrede.
• 25 – A series of terrorist actions in support of Republic Day protests are admitted by Umkhonto we Sizwe.
• 27 – A bomb explodes in Durban destroying a South African Defence Force recruiting building.^[4][5]

June

• 1 – Three offices of the Progressive Federal Party are firebombed in Johannesburg, with no injuries.
• 4 – The police station in Meyerton is attacked by terrorists.
• 11 – The railway line on the Natal North coast is maliciously damaged.
• 16 – The railway line near East London is maliciously damaged.
• 26 – Two bombs explode at the Durban Cenotaph.
• 28 – The railway near Empangeni is maliciously damaged.
• 30 – Zwelakhe Sisulu, President of the Black Media Workers Association of South Africa, is arrested under the Internal Security Act.

July

• 3 – A limpet mine is found at the fuel storage yard in Alberton and defused.
• 21 – Six bomb explosions at sub-stations in Pretoria, Middelburg, and Ermelo disrupt power supply.
• 26 – Two bombs explode at 05:50 and 06:10 in central Durban. Three people are injured and extensive damage is caused to motor vehicle firms.

August

• 6 – A bomb explodes in an East London shopping complex minutes before rush hour.
• 8 – A bomb explodes in a Port Elizabeth shopping centre in similar manner to the East London bomb.
• 11 – The Voortrekkerhoogte Military Base outside Pretoria is attacked with RPG-7s. Two British citizens, Nicolas Heath and Bonnie Lou Muller, are identified as accomplices in the assault.
• 19 – The railway line near East London is maliciously damaged.
• 23 – The South African Defence Force attacks South-West Africa People's Organisation bases in Xangongo and Ongiva, southern Angola during Operation Protea.

September

• 2 – Two policemen and two civilians, one a child, are killed during an attack on Mabopane Police station.
• 12 – A bomb damages the main railway line at Delville Wood near Durban.

October

• 10 – Umkhonto we Sizwe attacks government offices of the Department of Co-operation and Development. Four civilians are injured.
• 21 – Umkhonto we Sizwe destroys a transformer in Evander and a water pipeline feeding Sasol III (Secunda CTL) in Secunda.
• 26 – Two policemen are killed during an attack on Sibasa Police station.

November

• 1 – The Jeppes Reef House near the Swaziland border, occupied by the South African Defence Force, comes under RPG-7 attack.
• 1 – The South African Defence Force attacks South-West Africa People's Organisation bases in Chitequeta, south-eastern Angola, during Operation Daisy.
• 9 – A bomb explodes at the Orlando Magistrates Court in Soweto.
• 12 – Rosslyn sub-station in Pretoria is damaged by 4 limpet mines.
• 27 – Cedric Mayson, a former Methodist minister, is arrested.

December

• 4 – South Africa grants Ciskei independence.
• 9 – The offices of the Chief Commissioner of the Department of Co-operation and Development in Cape Town is attacked.
• 14 – A Pretoria sub-station is bombed.
• 23 – Eastern Cape provincial buildings in Duncan Village are damaged in an Umkhonto we Sizwe attack.
• 26 – The Wonderboompoort Police station is attacked.

Unknown date

• Trevor Manuel becomes the General Secretary of the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee.
• Bulelani Ngcuka is detained by police for eight months.
• A Security Police counter-insurgency unit is started by Dirk Coetzee, Jan Viktor and Jac Buchner with 16 police officers at Vlakplaas.

Births

• 13 January – Ayanda Borotho, actress
• 22 January – Khabonina Qubeka, actress, TV presenter, dancer, choreographer, fitness & wellness coach
• 1 February – Graeme Smith, cricketer
• 2 February – Marlene van Staden, politician (d. 2023)
• 3 February – Jo-Ann Strauss, 2001 Miss South Africa
• 10 February – Maggie Benedict, actress
• 11 February – Alexander Peternell, equestrian rider
• 15 February – Lee-Anne Pace, golfer
• 20 February
  • Akona Ndungane, rugby player
  • Odwa Ndungane, rugby player
• 24 February – Jean De Villiers, Springboks captain
• 26 February – Bridget Masinga, 3rd in the 2002 Miss South Africa pageant, actress, television and radio personality
• 3 March – Julius Malema, Member of Parliament and the founder & leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters
• 16 April
  • Nasief Morris, football player
  • Gareth Echardt, figure skater
• 4 May – Jacques Rudolph, cricketer
• 11 May – Terry Pheto, actress
• 21 May – Jacques le Roux, tenor singer^{[citation needed]}
• 26 May – Zakes Bantwini, musician, recording artist and record producer.
• 29 May – Iain Evans, field hockey player
• 10 June – Albie Morkel, cricketer
• 12 June – Gurthrö Steenkamp, rugby player
• 19 June
  • Quintin Geldenhuys, South African-born Italian rugby player
  • Dorian James, badminton player
• 22 June – Linda Mkhize, rapper and producer (d. 2018)
• 6 July – Jenna Challenor, long-distance runner
• 30 July – Juan Smith, rugby player
• 4 September – Lesley Manyathela, football player (d. 2003)
• 8 September – Ashwin Willemse, rugby player & tv rugby analyst
• 29 September – Siyabonga Sangweni, football player
• 19 October – Lucas Thwala, football player
• 22 December – Tumi Morake, comedienne, actress & TV personality
• 26 December – Shu-Aib Walters, football player

Deaths

• 19 November – Griffiths Mxenge, activist. (b. 1935)

Railways

Locomotives

• 5 February – Rebuilding of the Class 26 4-8-4 steam locomotive, popularly known as the Red Devil, is completed at the Salt River Works in Cape Town.^[6]
• Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:
  • May – One hundred Class 37-000 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26M2C diesel-electric locomotives.^[7][8]
  • The first of eighty-five Class 6E1, Series 9 electric locomotives.^[7][9]

Sports

Athletics

• 17 October – Mark Plaatjes wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:16:17 in Potchefstroom.

Rugby

• 30 May – The South African Springboks beat Ireland 23–15.
• 6 June – The Springboks beat Ireland 12–10.
• 14 August – The South African Springbok tour in New Zealand elicits protests.