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See also: 2003 in South Africa, other events of 2004, 2004 in South African sport, 2005 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

January

• 1 January - Asher Karni, an Israeli and South African businessman from Sea Point, Cape Town who is alleged to have supplied nuclear technology to Pakistan, is arrested at Denver International Airport, Colorado

March

• Building of the new Giriyondo Border Post between South Africa and Mozambique in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is started
• 7 March - 70 sustected mercenaries are arrested at Harare, Zimbabwe. Most of them are South African including their leader Simon Mann, a former British Army officer and security expert.

April

• 14 April - The 3rd democratic elections are held and won by the African National Congress
• 16 April - A set of shell beads estimated to be 75 000 years old is discovered at the excavations at Blombos cave near Stilbaai in the southern Cape

July

• Avian influenza is discovered in ostriches in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape
• 1 July - A South African Air Force Atlas Oryx helicopter crash lands near the Johannesburg International Airport with no fatalities
• 6 July - A South African Air Force SE-316B Alouette III helicopter crash lands at Grahamstown. No fatalities reported

August

• 23 August - The SAS Mendi (F148), a Valour class frigate, and the HMS Nottingham (D91), a Type 42 destroyer, met at the site where the SS Mendi, a World War I troopship, sank. Wreaths where laid in remembrance to those who died in service for their country
• 25 August - Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, is arrested at his home in Cape Town for his involement in the alleged Equatorial Guinea coup plot
• 27 August - Simon Mann, former British Army officer, security expert and mercenary, is found guilty of attempting to buy arms for the alleged Equatorial Guinea coup plot and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment while the other 66 co-accused are acquitted.

September

• 1 September - 6 people are killed and more than 100 were injured when a gas explosion occurs in the Sasol synthetic fuel plant in Secunda, Mpumalanga Province
• 9 September - The first locally assembled Agusta A109LUH makes its first flight at Denel's Kempton Park facilities

December

• 15 December - South Africa announces that it will buy the Airbus A400M transport aircraft

Sport

Athletics

• The annual national marathon championships are not held

Olympic Games

• The team of Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, simultaneously breaking the world record in the 4x100 freestyle relay. Shoeman, Ferns, and Neethling trained at the University of Arizona.

Births

Deaths

• 13 March - Dullah Omar, a lawyer and politician dies of Hodgkin's Disease
• 9 May - Brenda Fassie, singer, dies after allegedly taking a drug overdose
• 27 May - Nimrod Sejake, activist, dies at the age of 83
• 7 September - Beyers Naudé, cleric, theologian and activist, at the age of 89
• 12 September - Ray Simons, a communist and trade unionist, dies in Cape Town at the age of 91
• 12 December - Phaswane Mpe, poet and novelist