24 February – Bolla Conradie, rugby player 28 February – Rowen Fernández, football player 22 March – Heinz Winckler, singer, winner of Idols South Africa (season 1) 27 March – Professor (musician), recording artist 3 April – John Smit, Springboks, rugby captain 6 April – Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Springbok rugby player 6 May – Danie Rossouw, Jaco van der Westhuyzen 8 May – Nkhensani Kubayi-Ngubane, national minister 25 June – De Wet Barry, Springbok rugby player 30 June – Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, national minister 8 August – Lawrence Sephaka, Springbok rugby player 10 August – Karen Zoid, singer 23 October – Wayne Julies, Springbok rugby player 7 November – Katlego Danke, actress 20 November – Neil de Kock, Springbok rugby player 18 December – Lulu Dikana, singer, older sister of singer Zonke (d. 2014) 29 December – André Pretorius, Springbok rugby player Deaths 8 January – Rick Turner, activist and academic. (b. 1941) 12 January – Monty Naicker, medical doctor and activist. (b. 1910) 27 February – Robert Sobukwe, political activist. (b. 1924) 6 July – Papwa Sewgolum, golfer. (b. 1930) 21 August – Nico Diederichs, State President of South Africa. (b. 1903) Railways Locomotives Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways: August – The first of 58 Class 34-800 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives. The first of one hundred Class 7E electric locomotives, the SAR's first 25 kV AC locomotive. The first of twenty-five , Series 1 electric locomotives, the SAR's first 50 kV AC locomotive, on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line. 31 October – SAR Class 6E1, Series 4 locomotive no. E1525 reaches a speed of on a stretch of track between Westonaria and Midway, a still unbeaten world rail speed record on (1,067 millimetres) Cape gauge track. The SAR rebuilds Class 6E1, Series 5 no. E1600, a 3 kV DC electric locomotive, as a test-bed for use during 25 kV AC electrification. Sports Motorsport 4 March – The South African Grand Prix takes place at Kyalami. References South Africa Years in South Africa History of South Africa