See also: 1896 in South Africa, other events of 1897, 1898 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

• 21 April - Sir Alfred Milner becomes High Commissioner of South Africa and Governor of the Cape Colony
• 5 May - Port Elizabeth is flooded
• Bergville Mountain Village is established in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains in Natal

Births

• 3 July - Ludwig Wybren Hiemstra, Afrikaans linguist and editor of the Bilingual Dictionary, is born in Lydenburg
• 26 October - James Leonard Brierley Smith, ichthyologist, is born in Graaff Reinet

Deaths