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See also: 1971 in South Africa, other events of 1972, 1973 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

• A South African recce team carry out a submarine-borne raid (using the SAS Emily Hobhouse, a Daphne class submarine) on the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam placeing limpet mines on power lines, a bridge and the Rolls-Royce car belonging to the British High Commissioner
• The South African Police deploy to South West Africa
• Conscription for all white males is extended from 9 to 12 months and followed by a 19-day annual call-up for five years
• Operation Plathond, a joint South African Defence Force and South African Bureau of State Security operation is launched to train dissident Zambians in the Caprivi Strip, South West Africa
• 3 May - Onkgopotse Abram Tiro is expelled from University of the North and students protest the expulsion
• 4 May - South Africa and Lesotho decided to establish reciprocal consular representation
• 1 October - 1 Reconnaissance Commando is created at Oudtshoorn
• 25 August - Harry Schwarz wins the leadership of the United Party in the Transvaal, replacing its long time leader Marais Steyn.

Births

• 12 March — Arno Carstens, lead singer of the rock group Springbok Nude Girls, is born in Worcester
• 25 August — Elmarie Gerryts, pole vaulter
• 8 September — Os du Randt, Springboks rugby player

Deaths

• 14 May - Lawrence George Green, author, dies in Cape Town at the age of 72
• 11 August - Max Theiler, a virologist and the first South African to receive a Nobel Prize (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine), dies in New Haven, Connecticut at the age of 73
• 7 September - Cyprian Shilakoe, artist and sculpturer, is killed in a vehicle accident in Krugersdorp, Transvaal