1975 in South Africa

Incumbents

• State President:
  • until 9 April: Jacobus Johannes Fouché
  • 9 April-19 April: Johannes de Klerk
  • starting 19 April: Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs

Events

February

• 28 – The National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) approaches the South African Embassy in London and requests 40 to 50 artillery pieces to assist their cause in the Angolan Civil War.

March

• 15 – Ian Smith, the Rhodesian Prime Minister, and senior Ministers visit South Africa for talks.
• 19 – The Labour Party wins the second elections to the Coloured Persons' Representative Council.
• 21 – The Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement (Inkatha Yenkululeko Yezizwe) is founded by Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi.^[1]:14–15
• 27 – The government announces that it will consolidate the 113 separate homeland areas into 36 Bantustans.

April

• 19 – Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs becomes the 4th State President of South Africa.
• 30 – The World Meteorological Organization suspends South Africa from membership because of racial discrimination.

May

• 6 – The government announces that it will provide all Black children with free and compulsory education.

June

• 25 – The People's Republic of Mozambique becomes independent from Portugal.

July

• The Progressive Party merges with the Reform Party, a faction of the United Party, and becomes the Progressive Reform Party.

August

• 25 – The Victoria Falls Conference between Ian Smith, Rhodesian Prime Minister and the United African National Council is held in a South African Railways coach on the Victoria Falls Bridge. The conference is officiated by Kenneth Kaunda, President of Zambia and John Vorster, the South African Prime Minister.
• The first Cuban forces arrive in Angola to join Russian personnel who are there to assist the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), who controls less that a quarter of Angolan territory.^[1]:11–12
• The United States, Zaire and Zambia request South Africa to provide training and support for the FNLA and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).^[1]:12

September

• 24 – Major Kaas van der Wals and Major Holtzhausen, South African Defence Force liaison officers, are sent to Angola to assist UNITA.

October

• 14 – The South African Defence Force invades Angola during Operation Savannah, in support of the FNLA and UNITA prior to the Angolan elections scheduled for 11 November.^[2]

November

• 11 – The People's Republic of Angola becomes independent from Portugal.
• 13–28 – In the Battle for Ebo, South African Defence Force and Angolan forces clash at Ebo in the Cuanza Sul province of Angola.
• 19 – The United States Congress approves the Clark Amendment, ending aid to the FNLA and UNITA.
• 25 – A South African Air Force Cessna 185 is shot down south of Ebo. Pilot 2nd Lieutenant Keith Williamson, co-pilot 2nd Lieutenant Eric Thompson and South African Army battalion third-in-command Captain Daniël Taljaard are killed.
• 28 – South African Navy frigates evacuate 26 SADF personnel from behind enemy lines at Ambrizete, 160 km north of Luanda in Angola.

Unknown date

• Lillian Masediba Ngoyi's ban, confining her to Orlando Township in Johannesburg and forbidding her to attend any gatherings, is renewed for five years.
• The South West African Police Counter-Insurgency Unit, commonly known as Operation K, is launched.
• Operation Polo, South Africa's covert military intervention in the Rhodesian Bush War, starts.

Births

• 27 March – Bruce Jacobs, field hockey player.
• 24 May – Joe Mamma, stand-up comedian.

Deaths

• 8 May – Bram Fischer, former South African Communist Party leader, dies of cancer while under house arrest at his brother's house in Bloemfontein.

Railways

Locomotives

• June – The South African Railways places the first of 124 Class 36-000 General Electric type SG10B diesel-electric locomotives in service.^[3][4][5]

References