1975 in South Africa

Incumbents

• State President:
  • Jim Fouché (until 8 April).^[1]
  • Jan de Klerk (acting from 9 to 18 April).^[1]
  • Nico Diederichs (from 19 April).^[1]
• Prime Minister: John Vorster.

Events

February

• 28 – The FNLA approaches the South African Embassy in London and requests 40 to 50 artillery pieces to assist their cause in the Angolan Civil War.

March

• 15 – Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and senior Ministers visit South Africa for talks.
• 19 – The Labour Party wins the second elections to the Coloured Persons' Representative Council.
• 21 – The Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement (Inkatha Yenkululeko Yezizwe) is founded by Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi.^[2]
• 27 – The government announces that it will consolidate the 113 separate homeland areas into 36.

April

• 19 – Nico Diederichs becomes the 4th State President of South Africa.^[1]
• 30 – The World Meteorological Organization suspends South Africa from membership because of racial discrimination.

May

• 6 – The government announces that it will provide all Black children with free and compulsory education.

June

• 25 – The People's Republic of Mozambique becomes independent from Portugal.

July

• The Progressive Party merges with the Reform Party, a faction of the United Party, to form the Progressive Reform Party.

August

• 25 – The Victoria Falls Conference between Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and the United African National Council is held in a South African Railways coach on the Victoria Falls Bridge, officiated by Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and South African Prime Minister John Vorster.
• The first Cuban forces arrive in Angola to join Russian personnel who are there to assist the MPLA who controls less than a quarter of Angolan territory.^[2]
• The United States, Zaire and Zambia request South Africa to provide training and support for the FNLA and UNITA.^[2]

September

• 24 – Majors Kaas van der Wals and Holtzhausen, SADF liaison officers, are sent to Angola to assist UNITA.

October

• 14 – The SADF invades Angola during Operation Savannah in support of the FNLA and UNITA prior to the Angolan elections scheduled for 11 November.^[3]

November

• 11 – The People's Republic of Angola becomes independent from Portugal.
• 13–28 – In the Battle for Ebo, SADF and Angolan forces clash at Ebo in the Cuanza Sul province of Angola.
• 19 – The United States Congress approves the Clark Amendment, ending aid to the FNLA and UNITA.
• 25 – A South African Air Force Cessna 185 is shot down south of Ebo, killing pilot 2nd Lieutenant Keith Williamson, co-pilot 2nd Lieutenant Eric Thompson and South African Army battalion third-in-command Captain Danie Taljaard.
• 28 – South African Navy frigates evacuate 26 SADF members from behind enemy lines at Ambrizete, 160 kilometres (99 miles) north of Luanda in Angola.

Unknown date

• Lillian Ngoyi's ban, confining her to Orlando Township in Johannesburg and forbidding her to attend any gatherings, is renewed for five years.
• The South West African Police Counter-Insurgency Unit, commonly known as Operation K, is launched.
• Operation Polo, South Africa's covert military intervention in the Rhodesian Bush War, begins.

Births

• 27 March – Bruce Jacobs, field hockey player.
• 7 August – Charlize Theron, actress.
• 16 October – Jacques Kallis, all-rounder cricketer.
• 17 December – Tim Clark, golfer.

Class 36-000 (GE SG10B)

Deaths

• 8 May – Bram Fischer, former South African Communist Party leader. (b. 1908)

Railways

Locomotives

• June – The South African Railways places the first of 124 Class 36-000 General Electric type SG10B diesel-electric locomotives in service.^[4][5][6]

References