1974 in South Africa

Decades:	1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s;
See also:	; List of years in South Africa;

The following lists events that happened during 1974 in South Africa.

Incumbents

18 – Members of the World Council of Churches's Executive or Central Committee are banned from South Africa.
19 – The Narcotics Bureau of the South African Police is established.
19 – Harry Schwarz and Chief Minister Cedric Phatudi of Lebowa sign the Seshego Declaration.

24 – A whites only general election takes place and is won by the National Party.
25 – A coup in Portugal leads to that country's withdrawal from its colonies in Angola and Mozambique.

29 – Prime Minister of South Africa John Vorster and Prime Minister of Rhodesia Ian Smith meet and agree to co-operative co-existence with and non-interference in the internal affairs of a black-ruled Mozambique.

5 – The Japanese government announces that South Africans will no longer be granted visas to enter Japan.

25 – Pik Botha declares at the United Nations that South Africa is beginning to make far-reaching reforms.

12 – The United Nations General Assembly suspends South Africa from participating in its work, due to international opposition to the policy of apartheid. South Africa was re-admitted to the UN in 1994 following its transition into a democracy.
26 – Anneline Kriel is crowned as Miss World 1974, the second South African to hold the title after Penny Coelen in 1958, when Helen Morgan resigns four days after winning the 24th Miss World pageant.

4 January – Sindi Dlathu, actress
2 February – André Snyman, rugby player
7 February – Steve Nash, South African-born Canadian basketball player
23 February – Herschelle Gibbs, cricketer
23 February – Robbi Kempson, rugby player
5 March – Megan Hall, triathlete
14 March – Mark Fish, soccer player
15 March – Percy Montgomery, Springbok rugby player
16 March – Brian Baloyi, soccer player
27 March – George Koumantarakis, football player
29 March – Basetsana Kumalo, first runner-up in Miss World 1994, businesswoman, tv personality
13 April – K. Sello Duiker, novelist (d. 2005)
21 April – Tony Kgoroge, actor
26 April – Louise Barnes, actress
11 June – Ricardo Loubscher, rugby player
21 June – Mandla Mandela, chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and the grandson of Nelson Mandela
22 June – Alfred Phiri, soccer player
26 June – Cyril Nzama, soccer player
29 June – Judith Sephuma, singer
30 June – Hezekiél Sepeng, middle-distance athlete
11 July – Michelle Claire Edwards, badminton player
17 July – Linda Sibiya, radio, television personality and motivational speaker
26 September – Ninja (Die Antwoord), recording artist, rapper, record producer and actor
27 October – Thabo Mooki, soccer player
8 November – Penny Heyns, breast-stroke swimmer
17 December – Charl Langeveldt, cricketer

1 February – Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, militant student leader. (b. 1947)
2 February – Thomas Sturgess, an Indian cricketer, dies in Cape Town (b. 1898)
22 March – Peter Revson, American race car driver, died in pre-race crash at the South African Grand Prix in Midrand. (b. 1939)
3 April – Ossie Newton-Thompson, cricketer and politician. (b. 1920)
20 May – Leontine Sagan, director and actress. (b. 1889)
28 May – Matthew Frew, Air Vice Marshal of the South African Air Force, died in Pretoria. (b. 1895)

Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:
- The first of one hundred Class 6E1, Series 5 electric locomotives.^[4]^[5]^[6]
- November – The first of 150 Class 35-200 General Motors Electro-Motive Division (GM-EMD) type GT18MC diesel-electric locomotives.^[4]^[5]
- December – The first of 100 Class 34-600 GM-EMD type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives.^[4]^[5]
ISCOR places the first of forty-four Class 34-500 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives in service on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line.^[4]^[5]

6 May – The British and Irish Lions begin a controversial twenty-two match rugby union tour of South Africa and Rhodesia.

^ Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961-1994 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
^ Guinness Book of World Records. Sterling Publishing Company. 1976. p. 33.
^ South African History Online: New Zealand imposes a blanket ban on sports teams from South Africa (Accessed on 28 April 2017)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 128–129, 140–142. ISBN 0869772112.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
^ Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. pp. 50, 57, 60.