The following lists events that happened during 1896 in South Africa.
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- January
- February
- May
- 13 – The Franchise Bill is passed by Natal's Legislative Assembly, disfranchising natives of other countries.
- June
- August
- 6 – Cape Town's first electric tram service begins operation along Adderley Street to Mowbray Hill.
- December
- Unknown date
- 1 February – Stephanus Le Roux Marais, organist, teacher and composer of Afrikaans songs, is born in the district of Bloemfontein.
- 1 February – Ivan Mitford-Barberton, art teacher at the Michaelis School of Art in Cape Town and sculptor of several monuments in South Africa, is born in Somerset East.
- April – Clements Kadalie, trade unionist, is born at Chifira, Nkhata Bay District, Nyasaland (now Malawi).
- 3 May – Petrus Johannes Lemmer, composer of Afrikaans songs, is born in Hartbeesfontein, Transvaal.
- 27 October – Edith Haisman, RMS Titanic survivor, is born in Worcester, Cape Colony (d. 1997)
Locomotives
- Cape
- Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):
- The first of a second batch of fifty 6th Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6A on the South African Railways (SAR).[3][4]
- The first of a second batch of forty-six 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives on the Midland and Eastern Systems. In 1912 they would be designated Class 7A on the SAR.[3][4]
- Two 4-6-2 Pacific type tank locomotives enter service on the Metropolitan and Suburban Railway that operates a suburban passenger service between Cape Town and Sea Point.[3]
- Free State
- The Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouwerment-Spoorwegen places the first of twenty-four new Cape 6th Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives in service. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6C on the SAR.[3][4]
- Natal
- Transvaal
The Great Dynamite Explosion, report by Mr. J.G. Blumberg, Fairmount School, Johannesburg, excerpt from the autobiography of Dutch immigrant Jan de Veer who came to South Africa in 1893.
Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 183, ref. no. 200954-13
Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. Vol. 1: 1859–1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, England: David & Charles. pp. 41–46, 57, 76–77, 83, 87–89, 108, 118–119, 126, 133. ISBN 978-0-7153-5382-0.
Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 23–24, 28–29, 41–44, 46–48. ISBN 0869772112.