1873 in South Africa

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Sir Henry Barkly.
• Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal:
  • Sir Anthony Musgrave (until 29 April).
  • Thomas Milles (acting from 30 April to 21 July).
  • Sir Benjamin Pine (from 22 July).
• State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.^[1]
• State President of the South African Republic: Thomas François Burgers.^[2]
• Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West: Sir Richard Southey (from 17 July).^[3]
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Sir John Molteno.

April

• 30 – Thomas Milles becomes acting Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal.

May

• 1 – The use of Dutch is officially allowed in the Cape of Good Hope's parliament.
• 14 – The Ohrigstad area is proclaimed a public gold field after gold is discovered in the Selati River.

July

• 5 – New Rush in Griqualand West is renamed Kimberley after John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley.^[4]
• 17 – Sir Richard Southey becomes the first Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West.^[3]
• 22 – Sir Benjamin Pine becomes Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal.

August

• 20 – Prime Minister John Molteno authorises construction of the new Cape Eastern railway line from East London.

December

• 4 – HMS Challenger, on its worldwide marine research expedition, is officially welcomed in Cape Town.
• 26 – HMS Challenger arrives at Prince Edward Islands and contacts survey and charts the islands^[5]

Unknown date

• The University of South Africa is founded in Cape Town as the University of the Cape of Good Hope.
• The Cape Government establishes the first district boarding schools to educate children from rural areas while education is standardised at the Cape.^[6]
• The town of East London is officially established through the proclaimed merger of the three settlements of Panmure, East London and East London East.
• Warmbad is established as Hartingsburg at the hot springs north of Pretoria.

• 13 August – C.J. Langenhoven, playwright, poet, journalist, politician and author of Die Stem van Suid-Afrika. (d. 1932)
• 20 August – William Henry Bell, musician, composer and first director of the South African College of Music. (d. 1946)

• 1 May – David Livingstone is found dead on his knees beside his bed at Lake Bangweolo. (b. 1813)

Railway lines opened

• Namaqualand – Muishondfontein to Kookfontein, 15 miles (24.1 kilometres).^[7]

Locomotives

• Two Cape gauge 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotives enter service at Port Elizabeth on the Midland System of the Cape Government Railways. They are the first Cape gauge locomotives to enter service in South Africa.^{[8]: 117–118 [9][10]: 6}
• East London's first steam locomotive is landed at East London Harbour, a 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) Brunel gauge 0-4-0 vertical boiler engine acquired for work on breakwater construction.^[11]