2002 in South Africa

thumb|ECOPEACE Party Protest at the United States consulate in 2002

The following lists events that happened during 2002 in South Africa.

Incumbents

President: Thabo Mbeki.
Deputy President: Jacob Zuma.
Chief Justice: Arthur Chaskalson.

Cabinet

The Cabinet, together with the President and the Deputy President, forms part of the Executive.

National Assembly

Provincial Premiers

Eastern Cape Province: Makhenkesi Stofile
Free State Province: Winkie Direko
Gauteng Province: Mbhazima Shilowa
KwaZulu-Natal Province: Lionel Mtshali
Limpopo Province: Ngoako Ramathlodi
Mpumalanga Province: Ndaweni Mahlangu
North West Province: Popo Molefe
Northern Cape Province: Manne Dipico
Western Cape Province:
until 3 June: Peter Marais
3 June-21 June: Piet Meyer
since 21 June: Marthinus van Schalkwyk

Events

;January

29 – Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian organisation, begins importing a cheap generic version of patented AIDS drugs into South Africa in defiance of South Africa's patent laws.

February

9 – Bulelani Vukwana, an off-duty security guard, kills ten people and wounds others during a shooting spree in Mdantsane, near East London. The massacre - triggered by a failed relationship - ends when Vukwana kills himself, surrounded by police.

;March

27 – Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang approaches the Constitutional Court to stop the issuing of Nevirapine.
Sivan Pillay, Ed Jordan, Nkhensani Mangani and Karl Anderson are appointed as the first judges of reality show Coca-Cola Popstars, which yields two new pop groups, winners 101 and runners-up Afro Z.

;April

25 – Mark Shuttleworth becomes the second self-funded spaceflight participant.
26 – A South African Air Force Impala Mk I jet crashes near the Albasini Dam between Louis Trichardt and Musina, killing pilot Captain Brett Burmeister.

;May

20 – Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang announces at the World Health Assembly in Geneva that South Africa pledges R20 million to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

;June

16 – The Hector Pieterson Museum becomes the first museum to open in Soweto.
27 – Two South African Air Force Oryx helicopters, flying from the South African Antarctic research ship Agulhas, takes emergency food supplies and evacuates 21 Russian scientists from the German-owned Magdalena Oldendorff which has been trapped in ice off Antarctica since 16 June.

;July

15 – Nelson Mandela calls on government and business leaders worldwide to find ways to provide access to treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS.

;August

8 – The government announces the approval of an anti-retroviral roll-out plan.
9 – Ed Fagan leads a $50bn class action suit by a few apartheid-era victims against international firms and banks who profited from dealings with the apartheid government.
25 – The Medicines Control Council threatens to de-register Nevirapine unless further studies and appropriate documentation can show its efficacy in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

;September

15 – Johan Pretorius, Boeremag member, is arrested and charged when he is found with a truckload of weapons and explosives in Lichtenburg.
20 – Boeremag members Dirk Hanekom and Henk van Zyl are arrested in Memel, Free State, but only Hanekom is charged.
22 – A South African Air Force Museum T-6G Harvard crashes into power lines during a flypast at Africa Aerospace and Defence 2002, being held at AFB Waterkloof, Pretoria. Pilot Colonel Jeff Earle escapes with minor injuries.

;October

10 – President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki states that AIDS drugs are dangerously toxic to people and questions whether HIV or poverty is the true cause of Aids.
30 – Nine bombs explode in Soweto and one in Bronkhorstspruit. The Boeremag claims responsibility.

;November

4 – Alleged Boeremag leader Tom Vorster is arrested in Pretoria for the October bombings.
22 – A bomb explodes at the Grand Central Airport in Midrand, Gauteng.
28 – A bomb explodes on a bridge on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape Provinces.

;December

16–20 – The African National Congress holds its 51st National Conference in Stellenbosch.

Births

19 January – Fikile Magama, soccer player
30 January – Tyla, singer
22 February – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, rugby player
19 March – Paballo Koza, actor
7 March – Diyen Chetty,soccer player

Deaths

31 January – Bettie du Toit, trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist. (b.1910)
26 April – Steve Tshwete, activist and politician. (b. 1938)
15 May – Nellie Shabalala, musician. (b. 1953)
1 June – Hansie Cronje, cricketer. (b. 1969)
29 June – Stephen Fry, Springbok captain. (b. 1924)