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See also: 1976 in South Africa, other events of 1977, 1978 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

January

• 8 January - the railway line near Soweto is maliciously damaged

February

• 1 February - The Bantustan of KwaZulu is granted self-governance
• 24 February - A bomb explodes at the Daveyton Police Station, causing only superficial damage

March

• 7 March - A Pretoria restaurant destroyed by a bomb

April

• 1 April - Pik Botha, South Africa's ambassador in the United States of America is appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs

May

• 17 May - A referendum is held in South West Africa to vote on the draft Turnhalle constitution

June

• 4 June - Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Secretary of the South African Catholic Bishops' Conference, is served a 5 year restriction order
• 15 June - Monty Motlaung and Solomon Mahlangu, two Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres are arrested by police in warehouse in Goch Street, Johannesburg. Two bystanders are killed during the arrest. Later Motlaung is beaten so badly in police custody that he ends up brain damaged and Mahlangu was tried and hanged
• 29 June - The United Party is renamed the New Republic Party

July

• 15 July - The railway line at Umlazi in Durban is maliciously damaged
• 29 July - The "Antipolis", a Greek oil tanker, rans aground on the rocks near Victoria Road in Oudekraal, Cape Province while being towed to a wreckers yard

August

• A Soviet surveillance satellite detects South Africa's nuclear test preparations and alerts the United States

September

• 6 September - Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967
• 23 September - The Netherlands suspends its cultural agreement with South Africa

November

• The railway at between Dunswart (Boksburg) and Apex (Benoni) is maliciously damaged and a train driver is slightly injured
• 4 November - United Nations Security Council Resolution 418, placing a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa, is passed.
• 25 November - 14 people are injured when a bomb explodes at the Carlton Centre
• 30 November - A bomb explodes on a Pretoria bound train
• 30 November - Whites only general election is held. The National Party wins.

December

• 12 December - Guerrillas attack the Germiston police station, no one hurt
• 14 December - A bomb explodes at Benoni's railway station
• 22 December - An unexploded bomb is found in OK bazaars (a nationwide supermarket) in Roodepoort

Unknown date

• Former members of the United Party leave and join the Progressive Reform Party, which is renamed the Progressive Federal Party
• Cedric Mayson, a Methodist minister, is banned for 5 years

Sport

Motorsport

• 5 March - The South African Grand Prix, is held at Kyalami

Births

• May 11 — Victor Matfield, Springbok rugby player
• November 12 — Benni McCarthy, football (soccer) striker
• November 12 — Susan Wessels, field hockey player
• November 17 — Ryk Neethling, swimmer

Deaths

• 5 March - British Formula One racing driver Tom Pryce dies in a freak accident during the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami when his car hits a marshal, Jansen Van Vuuren
• 8 March - Moses Kottler, sculptor, dies in Johannesburg at the age of 81
• 29 April - Marimuthu Pragalathan Naicker, journalist, anti-apartheid activist, dies, at the age of 56, from a suspected heart failure on a flight from London to Berlin
• 9 September - Leonard Mandla Nkosi, special branch policeman who was a former African National Congress member, is killed
• 12 September - Steve Biko dies in police detention