1958 in South Africa

Events

April

• 16 – The last general election of the Union of South Africa takes place.

September

• 2 – Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd becomes the 6th Prime Minister of South Africa.

October

• 13 – Penny Coelen is crowned as Miss World 1958 during the 8th Miss World pageant, the first South African to win the title.

December

• 12–14 – The 46th Annual Conference of the African National Congress is held in Durban.

Births

• 16 April – John Coulter, composer.
• 30 April – Mbhazima Shilowa, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary and Premier of Gauteng, is born in Olifantshoek, Limpopo Province.
• 27 May – Cheryl Carolus, politician, is born in Silvertown on the Cape Flats, Cape Town.
• 28 July – Deon van der Walt, tenor. (d. 2005)
• 26 August – Mohammed Iqbal Shaik, political activist, is born in Vrededorp.

Deaths

• 2 May – Henry Cornelius, movie director.
• 6 May – Margaret Rheeder is hanged in Pretoria for poisoning her husband, Benjamin Fredenman.

Railways

Locomotives

Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):

• The first of fifty-five Class 5E, Series 3 electric locomotives.^{[1]:127–128}
• In June and July forty-five Class 1-DE General Electric type U12B locomotives are the first diesel-electrics to enter SAR service in quantity.^{[1]:137–138}

References