1951 in South Africa
# 1951 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1951 in South Africa.

## Incumbents

* Monarch: King George VI.
* Governor-General: Ernest George Jansen (starting 1 January).
* Prime Minister: Daniel François Malan.
* Chief Justice: Albert van der Sandt Centlivres.

## Events

### March

* 30 – The Group Areas Act, passed in 1950, becomes law.

### May

* 14 – Cabinet votes for the removal of Coloured people from the voters roll.
* 24 – The first part of the Afrikaans Dictionary Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT) is published, a project which was begun in 1926 by Prof. J.J. Smith of Stellenbosch University.

### July

* 29 – Blacks, Coloureds and Indians meet for the first time to discuss a plan of action against race discrimination laws.

    August
* 31 – The first Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the plant in Uitenhage.

### Unknown date

* Max Theiler, virologist, is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing a vaccine for yellow fever, the first South African to receive a Nobel Prize.

## Births

* 3 January – Frank Chikane, civil servant, writer and cleric
* 17 February – Patricia De Lille, current Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure (South Africa) and leader of the political party Good
* 9 March – Helen Zille, federal council chairperson of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
* 26 July – Pieter Mulder, politician and the former leader of the Freedom Front Plus
* 1 December – Nozipho Schroeder, lawn bowler

## Deaths

* 6 April – Robert Broom, the Scottish paleontologist who discovered Mrs Ples. (b. 1866)
* 23 May – Sefako Makgatho, the 2nd African National Congress president. (b. 1861)
* 14 October – Herman Charles Bosman, writer and journalist. (b. 1905)
* 5 November – Reggie Walker, athlete (b. 1889)
* 28 November – Clements Kadalie, trade unionist. (b. 1896)

## Railways

### Railway lines opened

* 13 June – Transvaal: Grootvlei to Redan, 39 miles 1 chain (62.8 kilometres).
* 21 December – Transvaal: Springs to Welgedag, 5 miles 19 chains (8.4 kilometres).

## Sports

### Canoeing

* 22 December – The first 200 kilometre Dusi Marathon, with four pairs of canoeists taking part, starts on the Umsindusi River which joins the Umgeni River in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Since only Ian Player stays the course and finishes, it is declared that there is no winner.

### Rugby

* 8 December – The Springboks beat Ireland 17–5 in Ireland.
