1887 in South Africa

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Hercules Robinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.
• State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Gordon Sprigg.

June

• 21 – The Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NZASM) is floated.^[1]
• 21 – Zululand becomes a British colony.

Unknown date

• The town of Boksburg is laid out to serve the surrounding gold mines.
• The Stellenbosch Gymnasium, later to become the Stellenbosch University, changes its name to Victoria College, after Queen Victoria.

• 29 May – Xhosa chief Sandile is killed in Denge Forest in a skirmish with the Fingos under the command of Captain J. Lonsdale.

New lines

• Construction begins on the Delagoa Bay-Pretoria line.^[1]

Railway lines opened

• October – Cape Central – Worcester to Roodewal, 42 miles (67.6 kilometres).^[2]

Locomotives

• The Lourenco Marques, Delagoa Bay and East Africa Railway in Mozambique places two 4-6-0 tank locomotives in service, one of which will become the Portuguese Tank on the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway in 1897.^[3]