1939 in South Africa
Encyclopedia
Events
- The University of PretoriaUniversity of PretoriaThe University of Pretoria is a multi campus public research university located in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa...
's official university newspaper, the Perdeby, is established
September
- 2 September - James HertzogJames Barry Munnik HertzogJames Barry Munnik Hertzog, better known as J. B. M. Hertzog was a Boer general during the second Anglo-Boer War who later went on to become Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1924 to 1939...
puts his case to the National Assembly for South Africa to remain neutral in the Second World War against Jan SmutsJan SmutsJan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
who supports a Commonwealth alliance - 4 September - Jan Smuts becomes the 4th Prime Minister of South Africa for the second time
- 5 September - The National Assembly votes on a motion whether or not to join the war and Jan Smuts wins by 13 votes
- 6 September - The Union of South AfricaUnion of South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
declares war on GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Deaths
- 16 October - Charlotte MaxekeCharlotte MaxekeCharlotte Makgomo Maxeke , a South African religious leader and political activist, was born at Ramokgopa near Polokwane. As a young girl she sang in concerts and while on tour to Canada and the United States she was offered a scholarship to study at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio...
, religious leader and political activist, dies in JohannesburgJohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
at the age of 65