<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive -->
<!-- IF POSSIBLE, PLEASE USE PRESENT TENSE -->
The following lists events that happened during 1916 in South Africa.
Incumbents
- Monarch: King George V.
- Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: The Viscount Buxton.
- Prime Minister: Louis Botha.
- Chief Justice: James Rose Innes
Events
;February
- 12 – In the Battle of Salaita Hill, South African and other British Empire troops fail to take a German East African defensive position.
;July
- 14-16 – During the Battle of Delville Wood, 766 men from the South African Brigade are killed in South Africa's biggest loss in the First World War.
;September
- 4 – Dar es Salaam surrenders to British Empire forces.
Births
- 12 January – P.W. Botha, politician, Prime Minister and State President. (d. 2006)
- 15 January – Rachel Alida de Toit, actor who performed under the name Lydia Lindeque. (d. 1997)
- 28 March – Abraham Manie Adelstein, South African-born Chief Medical Statistician of the United Kingdom. (d. 1992)
- 1 July – Thomas Hamilton-Brown, boxer. (d. 1981)
Deaths
- 5 June – The Earl Kitchener, British military commander during the Second Boer War. (b. 1850)
- 28 November – Martinus Theunis Steyn, last State President of the Orange Free State. (b. 1857)
Railways
Railway lines opened
- 18 February – Transvaal – Morgenzon to Amersfoort, .
- 25 May – Natal – Boughton to Cedara deviation, .