2011 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 2011 in South Africa.

← 2010 2009 2008 2011 in South Africa → 2012 2013 2014
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

Incumbents

• President – Jacob Zuma
• Deputy President – Kgalema Motlanthe
• Chief Justice – Sandile Ngcobo then Mogoeng Mogoeng

Events

February

• 9 – A generator fails catastrophically while performing overspeed testing at Duvha Power Station.

May

• 18 – Municipal elections take place.

October

• 7 – The 14th Dalai Lama is unable to attend the 80th birthday celebration of fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, having again been refused a visa to enter South Africa.[1][2]

Deaths

• 29 January – Fanus Rautenbach, Afrikaans radio and media personality. (b. 1928)
• 18 February – Lucas Maree, South African singer. (b. 1952)
• 12 March – Hubert du Plessis, South African composer and pianist. (b. 1922)
• 16 March – Carel Boshoff, South African politician, founder of Orania. (b. 1927)
• 24 March – Henry Gordon Makgothi, teacher, defiance campaigner and 1956 treason trialist. (b. 1928)[3]
• 2 June – Albertina Sisulu, anti–apartheid activist, widow of Walter Sisulu. (b. 1918)
• 15 June – Zack du Plessis, Afrikaans actor. (b. 1949)
• 22 June – Kader Asmal, politician. (b. 1934)
• 11 July – King Maxhob'ayakhawuleza Sandile, Rarabe paramount chief. (b. 1956)
• 13 July – Al Debbo, South African actor, comedian and singer. (b. 1924)
• 18 July – Magnus Malan, Minister of Defence. (b. 1930)
• 11 September – Deon du Plessis, newsman. (b. 1952)[4]
• 26 October – Dick Lord, South African Air Force and Fleet Air Arm fighter pilot. (b. 1936)
• 22 December – Zithulele Sinqe, long distance athlete. (b, 1963)[5]
• 25 December – John Christoffel Kannemeyer, writer, authority on Afrikaans literature. (b. 1939).[6]
• 29 December – Amichand Rajbansi, leader of the Minority Front in the South African Parliament. (b. 1942).

Railways

Locomotives

• January – Transnet Rail Engineering at Koedoespoort takes delivery of the first two of ten imported Class 43-000 General Electric type C30ACi diesel-electric locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail.[7]
• July – The first of the 133 locally built Class 43-000 locomotives rolls out at the Koedoespoort shops in Pretoria.[8]

See also

• 2011 in South African television

References

1. Was South Africa right to deny Dalai Lama a visa? 4 October 2011
2. Dalai Lama criticises China in South Africa video link bbc 8 October 2011
3. Henry Makgothi: The softly-spoken freedom fighter
4. Respected newsman Deon du Plessis dies
5. Zithulele Sinqe dies in crash Archived 21 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
6. Top book man dies suddenly
7. Railways Africa, 12 Jan 2011: New Diesels for South Africa
8. Railways Africa, 10 Jul 2012: Class 43 Loco Celebration

Further reading

• Andreas Mehler; et al., eds. (2012). "South Africa". Africa Yearbook: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara in 2011. 8. Koninklijke Brill. pp. 511+. ISBN 978-90-04-24178-7.