1908 in South Africa
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Incumbents
- Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Walter Hely-Hutchinson.
- Governor of the Colony of Natal: Matthew Nathan.
- Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Leander Starr Jameson.
- Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Frederick Robert Moor.
- Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony: Hamilton John Goold-Adams.
- Prime Minister of the Transvaal Colony: Louis Botha.
Events
- January
- 30 â Mahatma Gandhi is released from prison by Jan Smuts after having been tried and sentenced to 2 months in prison earlier in the month.
- March
- 4 â The Pretoria branch of the Transvaal University College, precursor to the University of Pretoria, is established.
- October
- 7 â Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in Volksrust, along with fifteen other Indians, for entering Transvaal without registration certificates and is sentenced to two months imprisonment with hard labor.
- November
- Unknown date
- Bosman de Ravelli composes the first Afrikaans art song
Births
- 5 March â Arthur Wegelin, composer.
- 23 April â Bram Fischer, lawyer and champion against apartheid, is born in the Orange River Colony. (d. 1975)
- 2 July â Andries Johannes Bester de Klerk, writer and secretary of the Cape Province, is born in Williston, Cape Colony
- 10 July â Wally Hayward, South African athlete (d. 2006)
Railways
Railway lines opened
- 4 January â Cape Eastern â West Bank, Buffalo Harbour to Chiselhurst, 4 miles 35 chains (7.1 kilometres).[1]
- 6 February â Transvaal â Machadodorp to Breyten, 55 miles 3 chains (88.6 kilometres).[2]
- 8 April â Free State â Hamilton to Beaconsfield (Cape), 99 miles 52 chains (160.4 kilometres).[2]
- 28 May â Cape Western â Milnerton to Ascot, 2 miles (3.2 kilometres).[2]
- 3 June â Natal â Esperanza to Donnybrook (Narrow gauge), 94 miles (151.3 kilometres).[2]
Locomotives
- The Cape Government Railways places two 4-6-2 Pacific type narrow gauge tank steam locomotives in passenger service on the Walmer branch in Port Elizabeth.[3][4]