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See also: 1978 in South Africa, other events of 1979, 1980 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

January

• 8 January - South Africa and Lesotho sign a monetary agreement
• 14 January - Police clash with Umkhonto we Sizwe guerrillas on a farm near Zeerust, one is arrested while 6 escape over the Botswana border
• 23 January - A bomb explodes near the New Canada railway station in Soweto
• 24 January - Large quantity of explosives are found and defused on the railway between Fort Beaufort and King William's Town

April

• Explosives discovered and defused on railway line near Soweto

May

• 5 May - Guerrillas open fire in the Moroka Police Station's charge office killing one policeman and wounding three others. 3 civilians were also injured
• 29 May - Bishop Abel Muzorewa becomes the transitional Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia

June

• Explosives are discovered and defused on railway line in the Eastern Transvaal
• 4 June - Marais Viljoen becomes State President of South Africa for the second time

September

• 22 September - A Vela satellite detects a double flash signal in the southern Atlantic Ocean. This is widely believed to be a South African and Israeli nuclear test although denied by South Africa

November

• Guerrillas open fire and hurl grenades into the charge office of Orlando Police Station, Soweto. Two policemen are killed and two wounded
• Grenades thrown into the home of Special Branch policeman, Lt Magezi Ngobeni, 5 children wounded

December

• Bomb explodes and damages the railway near Alice
• Bomb explodes at the Sasol Oil Refineries and cause massive structural damage

Unknown date

• The National Council of Lawyers for Human Rights is established
• The African National Congress's Special Operations is set up to undertake high-profile acts of sabotage on key economic installations. This structure reported directly to Oliver Tambo
• The African National Congress' Nova Catengue Training Camp is destroyed in an aerial bombardment by the South African Air Force
• The South African Defence Forces invade southern Zambia in Operation Safraan

Sport

Motorsport

• 3 March - The South African Grand Prix, is held at Kyalami
• Jody Scheckter becomes Formula One World Champion.

Births

• June 23 — Marilyn Agliotti, female field hockey player

Deaths

• February - Sgt Benjamin Letlako, a Police Special Branch member is shot dead in Katlehong
• 12 June - David Sibeko, director of Foreign Affairs of the Pan Africanist Congress and representative to the United Nations, is shot dead in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
• 30 April - A.A. Pienaar (Andries Albertus Pienaar, pen name Sangiro), born 23 August 1894, died on his farm, Panfontein, near Bloemhof.
• 10 November — Harry Hart (74), South African athlete (b. 1905)