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See also: 1979 in South Africa, other events of 1980, 1981 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

January

• 14 January - Local community at Soekmekaar resist forced removal and damage police station
• 25 January - Three Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives Stephen Mafoko, Humphrey Makhubo and Wilfred Madela held the staff and customers in a Silverton bank in Pretoria hostage. This was followed by a shoot-out with the police in which two civilians and the three operatives were killed

March

• Two terrorists are killed by police in Bophutatswana, while another escapes.
• 12 March - The Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) together with its sister church for Blacks (the NGK in Afrika), Coloureds (the NG Sendingkerk) and Indians (the Reformed Church in Africa) issue a statement stating that the Churches bring no objection in principle if the authorities judge that circumstances justify reconsideration of the Immorality Act and the Mixed Marriages Act.
  • Nine people are sentenced in Pretoria to five to seven years imprisonment for training as guerrillas outside South Africa and recruiting others to undergo training

April

• 4 April - Umkhonto we Sizwe attack the Booysens Police Station in Johannesburg with grenades, rocket launchers and AK47s
• 21 April - More than sixty coloured high schools, teacher training colleges and the University of the Western Cape start boycotting classes
• 29 April - Hundreds of coloured school children are arrested in Johannesburg during a student-police confrontation in terms of the Riotous Assemblies Act

May

• 2 May - Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall is banned because the government fear that it might be used as a song of liberty by black school children
• 6 May - Thozamile Botha, an activist in the Port Elizabeth area breaks his banning order and escapes to Maseru, Lesotho
• 25 May - The South African Defence Force attacks the city of Chifufua, Angola in Operation Sceptic

June

• 1 June Bombs explode at Sasol 1, 2 and Natref Eight at Sasolburg, Secunda with no injuries and R58-m damage. The attack was organised by Solomon Mahlangu of the Umkhonto weSizwe Special Operations.

August

• Special Branch policeman Det-Sgt TG Zondi is shot at in Sobantu Village

October

• 14 October - Soweto community calls for a stayaway to protest against rent increases
• 15 October - Bomb explodes and damages railway line in Dube, Soweto and Piet Koornhof, minister of co-operation and development, visits the scene
• 29 October - Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres throw two grenades into the government buildings of the West Rand Administration Board and injure a security guard and friend
• 30 October - A bomb explodes at the Transkei consuls residence in Port Elizabeth; no injuries

November

• 21 November - A terrorist is killed in Chiawelo and a child is injured by police

Sport

• 12 January – The British Sports Council begins a three-week fact-finding tour of South Africa to investigate racial discrimination in sport

Athletics

• 11 October – Thompson Magawana wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:12:50 in Faure.

Motorsport

• 1 March – The South African Grand Prix, is held at Kyalami

Rugby

• 10 May – The British and Irish Lions begin a hugely controversial 18-match tour of South Africa, despite protests from anti-apartheid groups. The tourists lose three of the four Tests.

Births

• 29 January Stefan Bothma, Civil Engineer, is born in Bloemfontein, South Africa
• 9 October Cassidy Cruise, Glamour model, is born in Durban, South Africa

Deaths

• 12 March - Lillian Masediba Ngoyi "Ma Ngoyi", a dressmaker, political activist and trade unionist, who suffered from heart trouble, dies at the age of 68 in Johannesburg
• June - Expelled African National Congress official, Tennyson Makiwane is shot dead
• 4 June - Patrick Makau, Umkhonto weSizwe member, and his child (9) are killed in a bomb attack on two houses in Manzini, Swaziland.