1996 in South Africa

	1996 in South Africa
1993 1994 1995 « 1996 » 1997 1998 1999
	1996 in South African sport
List of years in South Africa

Incumbents

• President: Nelson Mandela
• Deputy President: Thabo Mbeki

Events

February

• 26 – South Africa and Algeria restore diplomatic ties.
• Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in his capacity as Grand President of the British Commonwealth Ex-Services League, visits South Africa.

March

• 11 – The trial of General Magnus Malan, former defence minister, and 19 co-accused begins in the Durban Supreme Court.
• 19 – Nelson Mandela formally ends his 38-year marriage to Winnie Mandela when the Rand Supreme Court grants him a divorce.
• 23 – Approximately 6,000 Inkatha Freedom Party supporters, armed with fighting sticks, spears, clubs and battle axes, rally in the Tugela Ferry area of Kwazulu Natal in defiance of a national ban on traditional weapons.

April

• 15 – The Truth and Reconciliation Commission begins its first formal hearings.

May

• 2 – South Africa and China exchange letters granting each other most-favoured-nation status.
• 8 – South Africa's new constitution is adopted by the Constitutional Assembly.

June

• 19 – Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina Gonzalez visits South Africa.

July

• President Nelson Mandela visits the United Kingdom on a state visit.

August

• Mimi Coertse receives the highest accolade an artist can receive from the Austrian government, the Oesterreichishe Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst.

September

• 6 – The Constitutional Court delivers judgment on the new constitution.
• 11 – A mining agreement on wages and working conditions is signed between the Chamber of Mines and the National Union of Mineworkers.

October

• 11 – The constitution is amended by the Constitutional Assembly.
• 30 – Eugene de Kock, a colonel in the South African Police force, is sentenced to 212 years in prison
• General Magnus Malan, former defence minister, and 19 co-accused are acquitted on all charges relating to the massacre of 13 people in KwaMakhuta township south of Durban in 1987.
• The first South African National Census since the end of apartheid is held.

December

• 4 – A number of agreements relating to culture, double taxation, fiscal evasion and a memorandum of understanding relating to defence equipment are signed by Thabo Mbeki, Deputy President of South Africa, on a state visit to India.
• 10 – The new constitution is signed into law.

Unknown date

• Trevor Manuel is appointed Minister of Finance.

Births

• 17 February – Sasha Pieterse, actress.
• 22 April – Ilze Hattingh, tennis player.

Deaths

• 15 January – King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho is killed in a car accident.
• 28 March – Siegfried Mynhardt, actor, dies in Johannesburg, aged 90.
• 4 August – Rashaad Staggie, Hard Livings (gang) leader, is killed by the vigilante group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs
• 16 December – Laurens van der Post, author, farmer, war hero, political adviser, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer and conservationist, dies at the age of 90.

Sports

Athletics

• 25 February – Josia Thugwane wins his second national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:11:46 in Pinelands.