1981 in South Africa

Decades:	1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s; 2000s;
See also:	; List of years in South Africa;

Events

30 – The South African Defence Force launches Operation Beanbag and raids a suspected Umkhonto we Sizwe safe area in the suburb of Matola, Maputo, Mozambique, killing 12 to 24 people. The numbers reported killed vary.^[1]^: 54

9 – Tuks FM (107.2FM), the University of Pretoria's campus radio station, is established.^[2]
Two people are injured when a bomb explodes in a Durban shopping centre.

14 – A section of railway line between Richards Bay and Vryheid is destroyed by Umkhonto we Sizwe and coal trucks are derailed.
16 – Bishop Desmond Tutu is arrested and his passport is confiscated.
21 – Limpet mines explode and destroy two transformers at a sub-station in Durban.

6 – The railway in the Hoedspruit area is damaged.
14 – The United Nations General Assembly publishes a blacklist of 65 multi-national companies and some 270 sports persons who have links with South Africa.
21 – A bomb explodes and damages the Port Elizabeth rail link to Johannesburg and Cape Town.
25 – A pamphlet bomb explodes in Durban.
25 – The Fort Jackson Police station is attacked.
25 – The railway line near Soweto is damaged.
25 – The railway line on the Natal South Coast is damaged.
25 – Power lines are cut in Vrede.
25 – A series of terrorist actions in support of Republic Day protests are admitted by Umkhonto we Sizwe.
27 – A bomb explodes in Durban destroying a South African Defence Force recruiting building.

1 – Three offices of the Progressive Federal Party are firebombed in Johannesburg, with no injuries.
4 – The police station in Meyerton is attacked by terrorists.
11 – The railway line on the Natal North coast is maliciously damaged.
16 – The railway line near East London is maliciously damaged.
26 – Two bombs explode at the Durban Cenotaph.
28 – The railway near Empangeni is maliciously damaged.
30 – Zwelakhe Sisulu, son of Walter Sisulu and President of the Black Media Workers Association of South Africa, is arrested under the Internal Security Act.

3 – A limpet mine is found at the fuel storage yard in Alberton and defused.
21 – Six bomb explosions at sub-stations in Pretoria, Middelburg, and Ermelo disrupts power supply.
26 – Two bombs explode at 05:50 and 06:10 in central Durban. Three people are injured and extensive damage is caused to motor vehicle firms.

6 – A bomb explodes in an East London shopping complex minutes before rush hour.
8 – A bomb explodes in a Port Elizabeth shopping centre in similar manner to the East London bomb.
11 – The Voortrekkerhoogte Military Base outside Pretoria is attacked with RPG-7s. Two British citizens, Nicolas Heath and Bonnie Lou Muller, are identified as accomplices in the assault.
19 – The railway line near East London is maliciously damaged.
23 – The South African Defence Force attacks South-West Africa People's Organisation bases in Xangongo and Ongiva, southern Angola during Operation Protea.

2 – Two policemen and two civilians, one a child, are killed during an attack on Mabopane Police station.
12 – A bomb damages the main railway line at Delville Wood near Durban.

10 – Umkhonto we Sizwe attacks government offices of the Department of Co-operation and Development. Four civilians are injured.
21 – Umkhonto we Sizwe destroys a transformer in Evander and a water pipeline feeding Sasol III (Secunda CTL) in Secunda.
26 – Two policemen are killed during an attack on Sibasa Police station.

1 – The Jeppes Reef House near the Swaziland border, occupied by the South African Defence Force, comes under RPG-7 attack.
1 – The South African Defence Force attacks South-West Africa People's Organisation bases in Chitequeta, south-eastern Angola, during Operation Daisy.
9 – A bomb explodes at the Orlando Magistrates Court in Soweto.
12 – Rosslyn sub-station in Pretoria is damage by 4 limpet mines.
27 – Cedric Mayson, a former Methodist minister, is arrested.

9 – The offices of the Chief Commissioner of the Department of Co-operation and Development in Cape Town is attacked.
14 – A Pretoria sub-station is bombed.
23 – Eastern Cape provincial buildings in Duncan Village are damaged in an Umkhonto we Sizwe attack.
26 – The Wonderboompoort Police station is attacked.

Trevor Manuel becomes the General Secretary of the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee.
Bulelani Ngcuka is detained by police for eight months.
A Security Police counter-insurgency unit is started by Dirk Coetzee, Jan Viktor and Jac Buchner with 16 police officers at Vlakplaas.
The South African Railways and Harbours changes its name to the South African Transport Services.

11 August – Sizwe Khondile, a student activist, is killed at Komatipoort by the Vlakplaas counter-insurgency unit.
November – Durban lawyer Griffiths Mxenge is killed by the Vlakplaas counter-insurgency unit.

5 February – Rebuilding of the Class 26 4-8-4 steam locomotive, popularly known as the Red Devil, is completed at the Salt River Works in Cape Town.^[3]

Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):
- May – One hundred Class 37-000 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26M2C diesel-electric locomotives.^[4]^[5]
- The first of eighty-five Class 6E1, Series 9 electric locomotives.^[4]^[6]

17 October – Mark Plaatjes wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:16:17 in Potchefstroom.

30 May – The South African Springboks beats Ireland 23-15.
6 June – The Springboks beats Ireland 12-10.
14 August – The South African Springbok tour in New Zealand leads to large protests.

^ Jeffery, Anthea (2009). People's War - New Light on the Struggle for South Africa (1st ed.). Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86842-357-6.
^ History Retrieved 1 October 2010
^ The Ultimate Steam Page
^ ^a ^b South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
^ Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. pp. 38, 44.
^ Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 128–129. ISBN 0869772112.

v t e 1981 in Africa
Sovereign states	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
States with limited recognition	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland
Dependencies and other territories	Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)