1906 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1906 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Walter Hely-Hutchinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Edward McCallum.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Leander Starr Jameson.
• Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony: William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne.
• Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Charles John Smythe (until 28 November), Frederick Robert Moor (starting 28 November).

Events

February

• 11 – Two British £1-per-head tax collectors are killed near Richmond, sparking the Bambatha Rebellion led by Chief Bambatha kaMancinza, leader of the clan of the Zulu people.

May

• 2 – Lord Alfred Milner, British colonial secretary and the High Commissioner for Southern Africa, returns to Britain.
• 6 – British troops kill over 60 Zulu warriors during a punitive expedition near Durban.
• A statue of Paul Kruger is unveiled in Church Square, Pretoria

June

• The first issue of the Annals of the Natal Government Museum (currently African Invertebrates) is published by Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

Unknown date

• Tuberculosis reaches epidemic proportions in South Africa.

Births

• 6 January – Walter Battiss, artist, is born in Somerset East (d. 1982)
• 5 March – Siegfried Mynhardt, actor, is born in Johannesburg. (d. 1996)
• 11 June – N.P. van Wyk Louw, poet, dramatist and essayist, is born in Sutherland, Cape Colony. (d. 1970)
• 30 October – Archibald Campbell Mzoliza Jordan, Xhosa writer and linguist, is born near Tsolo in the Cape Colony.
• 13 December – Laurens van der Post, author, farmer, war hero, political adviser, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer and conservationist, is born in Philippolis. (d. 1996)

Railways

Railway lines opened

• Transvaal – Nancefield to Pimville, .
• 22 January – Cape Central – Riversdale to Voorbaai, .
• 6 February – Free State – Jagersfontein to Fauresmith, .
• 1 April – Cape Midland – Port Elizabeth to Humewood Road (Narrow gauge), .
• 6 April – Transvaal – Orkney to Fourteen Streams, .
• 16 May – Natal – Donnybrook to Creighton, .
• 1 June – Natal – Ennersdale to Loskop, .
• 21 June – Free State – Bethlehem to Kroonstad, .
• 21 June – Transvaal – Pienaarsrivier to Settlers (Regauged), .

• 1 August – Cape Western – Pampoenpoort to Carnarvon, .
• 29 August – Cape Eastern – Elliot to Maclear, .
• 1 December – Cape Midland – Humansdorp to Misgund (Narrow gauge), .
• 15 December – Cape Midland – Valley Junction to Walmer (Narrow gauge), .
• 17 December – Cape Eastern – Eagle to Butterworth, .
• 26 December – Transvaal – Apex to Witbank, .
• 27 December – Transvaal – Pretoria North to Rustenburg, .

Locomotives

Cape

• The Cape Government Railways places three locomotives in service, two of them experimental.
• An experimental 9th Class Mikado steam locomotive. In 1912 it will be designated Class Experimental 5 on the South African Railways (SAR).
• An experimental 10th Class Mastodon locomotive for the Cape Eastern System. In 1912 it will be designated Class Experimental 6 on the SAR.
• A single self-contained Railmotor for low-volume passenger service on the Franschhoek branchline.

Natal

• The Natal Government Railways (NGR) modifies six of its Class B locomotives to a wheel arrangement, the first Mountain type tender locomotive in the world. In 1912 it will be designated Class 1B on the South African Railways (SAR).
• In April the NGR places two Class N 4-6-2 narrow gauge tank locomotives in service on the new narrow gauge line that is being built between Estcourt and Weenen.

References