1976 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1976 in South Africa.

Incumbents

;January

;March

27 – The South African Defence Force withdraws from Angola and concludes Operation Savannah.

;May

;June

16 – Student riots break out in Soweto and Hector Pieterson, Hastings Ndlovu and two white officials of the West Rand Board are some of the casualties.
23 – Prime Minister John Vorster and United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger hold talks in West Germany over the Rhodesian issue.

;August

25–26 – Prime Minister John Vorster and President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda meet at Victoria Falls.

;September

13 – The Cillié Commission of Inquiry into the 16 June riots in Soweto begins.
30 – Michael Lapsley, Anglican priest and social activist, arrives in Lesotho after his visa was not renewed in South Africa.

;October

;Unknown date

Umkhonto we Sizwe's central operations headquarters is established and the process of establishing training camps in Angola begins with the establishment of Gabela Training Camp.

16 January – Jonathan Solomons, South African football player
20 January – Ian Syster, long-distance runner (d. 2004)
30 January – Kaya Malotana, former rugby player & tv rugby analyst
February – Johan Thom, visual artist
9 February – Colin Moss, actor and TV host
22 February – Faan Rautenbach, rugby player
2 March – Gaffie du Toit, rugby player
5 March – Wayne Denne, field hockey player
11 March – Black Coffee (DJ), DJ and record producer
30 March – Chantal Botts, badminton player
31 March – Thandiswa Mazwai, singer & songwriter
2 April – Rory Sabbatini, golfer
5 April – David Staniforth, field hockey goalkeeper
20 April – Calvin Marlin, football player
25 April – Breyton Paulse, rugby player
19 May – Zuluboy, rapper & actor
12 June – Stewart Carson, badminton player
3 July – Bobby Skinstad, Springboks captain
1 August – Lucky Lekgwathi, football player
24 August – DJ Tira, DJ, Record Producer and Businessman, founder of Afrotainment
11 September – Vuyo Dabula, actor
13 September – Linda Sokhulu, actress
3 October – Carl Beukes, actor
14 October – Tokollo Tshabalala, Kwaito musician, most well-known for being a member of music group TKzee
19 November – Jane Kurz, synchronised swimmer
3 December – Mark Boucher, cricketer
15 December – Kabelo Mabalane, Kwaito musician, TV personality & Pastor
30 December – Ashley Callie, actress (d. 2008)

19 March – Stuart Cloete, novelist, essayist and biographer (b. 1897)
26 April – Sid James, South African-born British actor (b. 1913)
16 June – Melville Edelstein, sociologist, killed due to Soweto uprising (b. 1919)
16 June – Hastings Ndlovu, Soweto uprising casualty (b. 1961)
16 June – Hector Pieterson, Soweto uprising casualty (b. 1963)
9 September – Ivan Mitford-Barberton, sculptor, writer and herald (b. 1896)
6 November – Sydney Skaife, entomologist and naturalist (b. 1889)

thumb|[[South African Class 35-400|Class 35-400 (GE U15C)]]

Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:

March – The first of one hundred Class 35-400 General Electric type U15C diesel-electric locomotives.
September – The first of one hundred Class 35-600 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT18MC diesel-electric locomotives.