See also: 1900 in South Africa, other events of 1901, 1902 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

January

• 15 January - The HMS Sybille, a 3400 ton Apollo class cruiser struck a reef about 5 km south of Lamberts Bay
• 31 January - General Jan Smuts and his commandos captures Modderfontein, Transvaal, during the Second Boer War. A large of number of Africans are massacred at Modderontein by the commandos

February

• 1 February - Bubonic plague breaks out in Cape Town

May

• 31 May - Officially unrecognized Zulu king Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo refuses British instructions to take up arms against the Boers in the Second Boer War

July

• 2 July - 6 Boer prisoners are murdered by members of the Bushveld Carabineers in the Spelonken area, near Louis Trichardt during the Second Boer War

August

• 20 August - General De la Rey's 84 year old mother is sent to a concentration camp at Klerksdorp

September

• 17 September - Commandant-General Louis Botha and General Cecil "Cherry" Cheere Emmett join forces to invade Natal during the Second Boer War

November

• 1 November - Standard Bank of South Africa opens its second branch in Johannesburg on Eloff Street
• 9 November the electric tramline in Cape Town was extended to Camps Bay and Sea Point

Births

• 8 September - Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd is born in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Deaths

• 19 May - Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, the first president of the South African Republic and founder of Pretoria, dies at the age of 81