1977 in South Africa

Decades:	1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s;
See also:	; List of years in South Africa;

The following lists events that happened during 1977 in South Africa.

Incumbents

1 – KwaZulu is granted self-governance.
24 – A bomb explodes at the Daveyton Police Station, causing only superficial damage.^[2]

5 – British Formula One driver Tom Pryce dies during the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami when his car strikes and kills marshal Frederik Jansen van Vuuren.
7 – A Pretoria restaurant is destroyed by a bomb.

1 – Pik Botha, South Africa's ambassador in the United States of America, is appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

4 – Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa is served a 5-year restriction order.
15 – Monty Motlaung and Solomon Mahlangu, two Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres, kill two civilians and are arrested.
29 – The United Party is renamed the New Republic Party.

15 – The railway line at Umlazi in Durban is maliciously damaged.
29 – The Antipolis, a Greek oil tanker, runs aground on the rocks near Victoria Road in Oudekraal, Cape Town.

A Soviet surveillance satellite detects South Africa's nuclear test preparations and alerts the United States.
Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko is detained for breaking a banning order.^[3]

4 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 places a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa.^[3]
25 – Fourteen people are injured when a bomb explodes at the Carlton Centre.
30 – A bomb explodes on a Pretoria-bound train.
30 – A whites only general election is held. The National Party wins.
The railway at Dunswart (Boksburg) and Apex (Benoni) is maliciously damaged and a train driver is slightly injured.

12 – Guerrillas attack the Germiston police station.^[4]
14 – A bomb explodes at the Benoni railway station.
16 – The Venpet-Venoil collision between two supertankers occurs off the coast of Cape St. Francis.
22 – An unexploded bomb is found in OK Bazaars in Roodepoort.

Former members of the United Party join the Progressive Reform Party, which is renamed the Progressive Federal Party.
Cedric Mayson, a Methodist minister, is banned for 5 years.

29 January – Buster Nupen 75, cricketer. (b. 1902)
20 February – Christoffel Venter 84, South African Air Force general. (b. 1892)
5 March – Tom Pryce 27, a Welsh racing driver, (b. 1949) killed during the 1977 South African Grand Prix in Midrand
8 March – Moses Kottler, sculptor. (b. 1896)
12 September – Steve Biko 30, black consciousness activist. (b. 1946) ^[3]

The South African Railways places the first of 150 Class 6E1, Series 7 electric locomotives in mainline service.^[6]^[7]

^ Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961-1994 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
^ "GTD ID:197702240007". Global Terrorism Database. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Jeffery, Anthea (2009). People's War - New Light on the Struggle for South Africa (1st ed.). Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-1-86842-357-6.
^ "GTD ID:197712120006". Global Terrorism Database. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
^ Khoto Sesinyi at National-Football-Teams.com
^ South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
^ Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 128–129. ISBN 0869772112.