Events

• 10 January - The South Africa (Springboks)
  South Africa national rugby union team
  The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
  
    draws with Ireland
  Ireland national rugby union team
  The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
  
   8-8 at Lansdowne Road
  Lansdowne Road
  Lansdowne Road was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union that has been the location of a number of sports stadiums. It was used primarily for rugby union and for association football matches as well as some music concerts...
  
  , Dublin, Ireland
• 21 May - John Vorster
  B.J. Vorster
  Balthazar Johannes Vorster , better known as John Vorster, served as the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and as the fourth State President of South Africa from 1978 to 1979...
  
  , Prime Minister of South Africa and Ian Smith
  Ian Smith
  Ian Douglas Smith GCLM ID was a politician active in the government of Southern Rhodesia, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe from 1948 to 1987, most notably serving as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 1 June 1979...
  
  , Prime Minister of Rhodesia
  Prime Minister of Rhodesia
  The Prime Minister of Rhodesia was the head of government in the colony of Rhodesia. Rhodesia's political system was modelled on the Westminster system and the Prime Minister's role was similar to that of the same position in other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New...
  
  , hold private talks
• 12 June - Mangosuthu Buthelezi
  Mangosuthu Buthelezi
  Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi is a South African Zulu politician who founded the Inkatha Freedom Party in 1975 and continues to lead the party today.His praise name is Shenge.-Early life:...
  
   is elected as the first Chief Executive Officer of the new Bantustan
  Bantustan
  A bantustan was a territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa , as part of the policy of apartheid...
  
   of KwaZulu
  KwaZulu
  KwaZulu was a bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a semi-independent homeland for the Zulu people. The capital, formerly at Nongoma, was moved in 1980 to Ulundi....
  
  

Births

• 10 September - Phaswane Mpe
  Phaswane Mpe
  Phaswane Mpe was a South African poet and novelist. He was educated at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was a lecturer in African literature. His debut novel, Welcome to Our Hillbrow, was published in 2001...
  
  , poet and novelist (d. 2004)
• December 1970 - Dr Mariam Seedat, Sociologist