1908 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1908 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Walter Hely-Hutchinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Matthew Nathan.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Leander Starr Jameson.
• Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Frederick Robert Moor.
• Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony: Hamilton John Goold-Adams.
• Prime Minister of the Transvaal Colony: Louis Botha.

Events

January

• 30 – Mahatma Gandhi is released from prison by Jan Smuts after having been tried and sentenced to 2 months in prison earlier in the month.

March

• 4 – The Pretoria branch of the Transvaal University College, precursor to the University of Pretoria, is established.

October

• 7 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in Volksrust, along with fifteen other Indians, for entering Transvaal without registration certificates and is sentenced to two months imprisonment with hard labor.

November

• 16 – Devastating flooding in Port Elizabeth

Unknown date

• Bosman de Ravelli composes the first Afrikaans art song

Births

• 5 March – Arthur Wegelin, composer.
• 23 April – Bram Fischer, lawyer and champion against apartheid, is born in the Orange River Colony. (d. 1975)
• 2 July – Andries Johannes Bester de Klerk, writer and secretary of the Cape Province, is born in Williston, Cape Colony
• 10 July – Wally Hayward, South African athlete (d. 2006)

Deaths

Railways

Railway lines opened

• 4 January – Cape Eastern – West Bank, Buffalo Harbour to Chiselhurst, 4 miles 35 chains (7.1 kilometres).
• 6 February – Transvaal – Machadodorp to Breyten, 55 miles 3 chains (88.6 kilometres).
• 8 April – Free State – Hamilton to Beaconsfield (Cape), 99 miles 52 chains (160.4 kilometres).
• 28 May – Cape Western – Milnerton to Ascot, 2 miles (3.2 kilometres).
• 3 June – Natal – Esperanza to Donnybrook (Narrow gauge), 94 miles (151.3 kilometres).

Locomotives

• The Cape Government Railways places two 4-6-2 Pacific type narrow gauge tank steam locomotives in passenger service on the Walmer branch in Port Elizabeth.

References