The following lists events that happened during 1926 in South Africa.
Incumbents Monarch: King George V. Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: The Earl of Athlone. Prime Minister: James Barry Munnik Hertzog. Chief Justice: James Rose Innes.
Events
March 13 – The first commercial air route from South Africa is established when Alan Cobham does a return flight between London and Cape Town.
October 8 – 124 coal miners die due to a methane explosion in the Durban Navigation Colliery disaster 10 – The South African National War Memorial next to Delville Wood outside Longueval, France is opened. 10 – The Sabie Game Reserve is renamed to Kruger National Park.
Births 23 May – Joe Slovo, politician in Obeliai, Lithuania (d. 1995) 11 September; Gerrit Viljoen, government minister (d. 2009) 24 December – Ronald Draper, cricketer (d. 2025) Railways
Railway lines opened 18 January – Transvaal – Villiers, Free State to Grootvlei, .Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 189, ref. no. 200954-13 7 June – Free State – Harrismith to Warden, . 18 August – Cape – Upington to Kakamas (Narrow gauge), . 1 September – Cape – Addo to Sunland, . 15 September – Natal – Mtubatuba to Candover, . 19 November – Cape – Katberg to Seymour (Narrow gauge), . 22 November – Transvaal – Citrus to Plaston, . 8 December – Cape – Klawer to Landplaas, .
Locomotives Three Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR): The first twenty-three Class 15CA 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives. Four Class FD 2-6-2+2-6-2 Modified Fairlie articulated steam locomotives. To address a shortage of suitable shunting locomotives, the first of twenty-one ex Natal Government Railways Class D1 tank locomotives are rebuilt to Class 17 4-8-0 tank-and-tender locomotives.South African Railways and Harbours Locomotive Diagram Book, 2'0" & 3'6" Gauge Steam Locomotives, 15 August 1941, as amended
References