1951 in South Africa

Decades:	1930s; 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; 1970s;
See also:	; List of years in South Africa;

The following lists events that happened during 1951 in South Africa.

Incumbents

14 – Cabinet votes for the removal of Coloured people from the voters roll.
24 – The first part of the Afrikaans Dictionary Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT) is published, a project which was begun in 1926 by Prof. J.J. Smith of Stellenbosch University.

29 – Blacks, Coloureds and Indians meet for the first time to discuss a plan of action against race discrimination laws.

August

Max Theiler, virologist, is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing a vaccine for yellow fever, the first South African to receive a Nobel Prize.

3 January – Frank Chikane, civil servant, writer and cleric
17 February – Patricia De Lille, current Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure (South Africa) and leader of the political party Good
9 March – Helen Zille, federal council chairperson of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
26 July – Pieter Mulder, politician and the former leader of the Freedom Front Plus
1 December – Nozipho Schroeder, lawn bowler^[1]

6 April – Robert Broom, the Scottish paleontologist who discovered Mrs Ples. (b. 1866)
23 May – Sefako Makgatho, the 2nd African National Congress president. (b. 1861)
14 October – Herman Charles Bosman, writer and journalist. (b. 1905)
5 November – Reggie Walker, athlete (b. 1889)
28 November – Clements Kadalie, trade unionist. (b. 1896)

13 June – Transvaal: Grootvlei to Redan, 39 miles 1 chain (62.8 kilometres).^[2]
21 December – Transvaal: Springs to Welgedag, 5 miles 19 chains (8.4 kilometres).^[2]

22 December – The first 200 kilometre Dusi Marathon, with four pairs of canoeists taking part, starts on the Umsindusi River which joins the Umgeni River in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Since only Ian Player stays the course and finishes, it is declared that there is no winner.