The following lists events that happened during 1953 in South Africa.

Incumbents

Monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...

: Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. * Governor-General and

High Commissioner for Southern Africa The British office of high commissioner for Southern Africa was responsible for governing British possessions in Southern Africa, latterly the protectorates of Basutoland (now Lesotho), the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) and Swaziland ...

Ernest George Jansen Ernest George Jansen (1881–1959) was the second to last Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, holding office from 1951 until his death in 1959. Born on 7 August 1881, he graduated with a law degree from the University of the Cape o ...

. *

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Daniel François Malan Daniël François Malan (; 22 May 1874 – 7 February 1959) was a South African politician who served as the fourth prime minister of South Africa from 1948 to 1954. The National Party implemented the system of apartheid, which enforce ...

. * Chief Justice:

Albert van der Sandt Centlivres Albert van der Sandt Centlivres (13 January 1887 – 19 September 1966), was the Chief Justice of South Africa from 1950 to 1957. Biography Centlivres was born in Newlands, Cape Town, the son of Frederick James Centlivres and Albertina de V ...

Events

;May * 9 – The

Liberal Party of South Africa The Liberal Party of South Africa was a South African political party from 1953 to 1968. Founding The party was founded on 9 May 1953 at a meeting of the South African Liberal Association in Cape Town. Essentially it grew out of a belief that ...

is formed in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

by Alan Paton. ;July * 29 – Santam Insurance Company is registered, following the separation of trust and insurance operations. ;September *

Mimi Coertse Mimi Coertse, DMS (born 12 June 1932) is a South African soprano. On 26 January 2020, Mimi was also inaugurated as a living legend in the South African Legends Museum. She was one of only 20 legends from whom a bust was also made. Early li ...

leaves South Africa for

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. ;December * 18–20 – The 42nd Annual Conference of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

takes place in Queenstown. ;Unknown date * The Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), banned by the National Party government, relaunches itself underground as the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

(SACP). * Bantu Education Act is voted, and will start 1 January 1954.

Births

* 12 January –

Steven De Groote Steven De Groote (12 January 1953 – 22 May 1989) was a South African classical pianist. Steven De Groote was born in Johannesburg, South Africa into a Belgian family in which, for three generations, almost every member had been a professio ...

, classical pianist. (d. 1989) * 13 January –

Derek Hanekom Derek Andre Hanekom (born 13 January 1953) is a South African politician, activist and former cabinet minister. He is currently serving as a presidential envoy for South Africa mandated to promote investment with a focus on tourism. He was pre ...

, activist and politician. * 15 February –

Mantfombi Dlamini Mantfombi Shiyiwe Dlamini Zulu (15 February 1953 – 29 April 2021) was the queen consort of the Zulu nation from 1977 to 2021 as the Great Wife to King Goodwill Zwelithini. She served as the queen regent from March 2021 to April 2021. Early ...

, Queen Consort of the Zulu Nation. (d. 2021) * 5 March –

Tokyo Sexwale Mosima Gabriel "Tokyo" Sexwale (; born 5 March 1953) is a South African businessman, politician, anti-apartheid activist, and former political prisoner. Sexwale was imprisoned on Robben Island for his anti-apartheid activities, alongside figur ...

, businessman, politician and activist. * 29 April –

Bill Drummond William Ernest Drummond (born 29 April 1953) is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was a co-founder of the late-1980s avant-garde pop group the KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with wh ...

, British musician * 22 October – Loyiso Nongxa, mathematician. * 7 December –

Naledi Pandor Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor (née Matthews; born 7 December 1953) is a South African politician, educator and academic serving as the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation since 2019. She has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) ...

, national minister

Deaths

* 1 July – Totius, Afrikaans poet. (b. 1877)

Railways

Railway lines opened

* 14 October – Cape –

Lohatla Lohatla is a training area of the South African National Defence Force. It is located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa and is home to the SA Army Combat Training Centre, which is part of the South African Army Training Formation. ...

Sishen Dingleton is a town in Northern Cape, South Africa. The nearby Sishen mine is an iron ore mining activity, connected to the port of Saldanha Bay by the Sishen-Saldanha Railway Line. The line is electrified at 50 kV AC 5 (five) is a number, n ...

, .''Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway'', Statement No. 19, p. 191, ref. no. 200954-13

Locomotives

Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the

South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

(SAR): * The first of ninety Class 25

4-8-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type wa ...

Northern type

condensing steam locomotive A condensing steam locomotive is a type of locomotive designed to recover exhaust steam, either in order to improve range between taking on boiler water, or to reduce emission of steam inside enclosed spaces. The apparatus takes the exhaust stea ...

s. * The first of fifty Class 25NC non-condensing versions of the Class 25 Condenser.

Sports

Football

* 22 November – In a friendly match the South Africa national football team loses 1–3 to the

Portugal national football team The Portugal national football team ( pt, Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol) has represented Portugal in international men's football competition since 1921. The national team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the gover ...

at the National Stadium, Lisbon,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

References

{{Africa topic, 1953 in, state=collapsed History of South Africa