March

• 12 March - The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions submits a memorandum to the United Nations General Assembly
  United Nations General Assembly
  For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
  
   calling for economic sanctions against South Africa
• 15 March - South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth
  Commonwealth of Nations
  The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
  
  

May

• 30 May - Charles Robberts Swart
  Charles Robberts Swart
  Charles Robberts Swart served as the last Governor-General of Union of South Africa from 1960 to 1961 and the first State President of the Republic of South Africa from 1961 to 1967.-Early life:...
  
   resigns as Governor-General of South Africa
• 31 May - South Africa becomes a republic
  Republic
  A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
  
  
  • Charles Robberts Swart becomes the first State President of South Africa
    State President of South Africa
    State President, or Staatspresident in Afrikaans, was the title of South Africa's head of state from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic in 1961, and Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be head of state...
    
    

June

• 4 June - The Iraq
  Iraq
  Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
  
  i Foreign Minister, Hassim Jawad, announces that it will not recognise the South African government because of its apartheid policies

December

• 16 December - The African National Congress
  African National Congress
  The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
  
   launches its armed struggle with the formation of the Umkhonto we Sizwe
  Umkhonto we Sizwe
  Umkhonto we Sizwe , translated "Spear of the Nation," was the armed wing of the African National Congress which fought against the South African apartheid government. MK launched its first guerrilla attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961...
  
  

Unknown date

• Eendrag Men's Residence opens its doors for the first time to students of Stellenbosch University
  Stellenbosch University
  Stellenbosch University is a public research university situated in the town of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Other nearby universities are the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape....
  
  
• Mimi Coertse
  Mimi Coertse
  Mimi Coertse , is a South African soprano.-Early life:Coertse, born in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, matriculated at the Helpmekaar Girls High School in Johannesburg. She began vocal studies in South Africa in 1949. In July 1953 she married the broadcaster and composer Dawid Engela. She left South Africa...
  
   is awarded the Medal of Honour of Die Suidafrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns
• The Department of Indian Affairs is established.
• Decimalisation
  Decimalisation
  Decimal currency is the term used to describe any currency that is based on one basic unit of currency and a sub-unit which is a power of 10, most commonly 100....
  
   of currency: the South African rand
  South African rand
  The rand is the currency of South Africa. It takes its name from the Witwatersrand , the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found. The rand has the symbol "R" and is subdivided into 100 cents, symbol "c"...
  
   replaces the South African pound
  South African pound
  In 1825, an imperial order-in-council made sterling coinage legal tender in all the British colonies. At that time, the only British colony in Southern Africa was the Cape of Good Hope Colony. As time went on, the British pound sterling and its associated subsidiary coinage became the currency of...
  
  .

Football (Rugby Union)

• 13 May - South Africa (Springboks)
  South Africa national rugby union team
  The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
  
    beat Ireland
  Ireland national rugby union team
  The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
  
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