See also: 1981 in South Africa, other events of 1982, 1983 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

January

• 7 January - A bomb damages the office of the West Rand Administration Board in Soweto
• 8 January - Umkhonto we Sizwe guerrillas attack Koeberg nuclear power plant in Cape Town
• 11 January - The United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid launches the International Year of Mobilisation for Sanctions against South Africa

February

• South Africa and Swaziland sign a non-aggression pact

• 15 February - Four COSAS-Members were bombed by the Security Branch under orders of Brigadier Schoon at nearby mine dumb outside Kagiso. Three died and one was injured.
• 18 February - The South African Navy frigate SAS President Kruger sinks with the loss of 16 lives after colliding with SAS Tafelberg.

March

• 6 March - Frederik Willem de Klerk replaces AP Treurnicht as leader of the National Party in the Transvaal
• 14 March - A bomb explodes at the African National Congress' headquarters in London, UK. General Johann Coetzee and seven other policemen (Craig Williamson, John McPherson, Roger Raven, Wybrand du Toit, John Adam, James Taylor and Eugene de Kock) later claimed responsibility in retailation to the 11 August 1981 attack on the military base at Voortrekkerhoogte outside Pretoria in which two British citizens, Nicholas Heath and Bonnie Lou Muller, were involved
• 20 March - A bomb explodes at the Langa Commissioners Court

April

• 30 April - The President of South Africa, Pieter Willem Botha and President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda met on the Botswana border to discuss the political situation in South West Africa and South Africa

May

• 12 May - Another bomb damages the office of the West Rand Administration Board in Soweto for the second time
• 21 May - Bomb explodes at the offices of Department of Coloured Affairs in Pinetown near Durban
• 28 May - A fuel depot and power transformer in Hectorspruit is damaged by a limpet mine

June

• 3 June - A bomb damages the railway near Dube in Soweto
• 4 June - One person is killed when a bomb explodes in a lift (elevator) at the offices of Presidents Council in Cape Town
• 28 June - The railway depot at Vryheid is damaged in explosion

- In Scheepersnek, two bombs cause extensive damage to railway depot, pump station, stores, vehicles

- The Durban-Witwatersrand oil pipeline is damaged by a bomb

July

• July - In Port Elizabeth the Police Station Commanders office and New Law Courts are damaged in an attack

August

• 28 August - The Umvoti Mounted Rifles Army Camp in Red Hill, Durban is attacked

September

• 24 September - Umkhonto we Sizwe place explosives on a railway bridge near Upington but they don't go off
• Two terrorists are killed by police in Boksburg

October

• 26 October - Three bombs explode at the Drakensberg Administration offices in Pietermaritzburg
• A special branch policeman and a terrorist or freedom fighter are killed in a skirmish in KwaZulu-Natal

November

• 8 November - A bomb causes severe damage at Mobil fuel storage depot in Mkuze
• 20-21 November - Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres use RPG-7s to attack a rural Police station and temporary South African Army garrison at Tonga

December

• One person is killed and 70 injured in a bomb blast at the Southern Free State Administration Board in Bloemfontein
• 9 December - The South African Defence Force stage a pre-dawn raid on houses inhabited by the banned African National Congress in Maseru, Lesotho
• 18-19 December - Four explosions cause massive damage at the Koeberg nuclear power station just north of Cape Town
• 31 December - A boxing day bomb damages the Johannesburg Magistrates court (200 m from John Vorster Square)

Unknown date

• Bulelani Ngcuka is jailed for three years for refusing to give evidence in the political trial of Patrick Maqubele and others
• South African Defence Force's Operation Super

Sport

Athletics

• October 16 – Gabashane Rakabaele wins his third national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:17:36 in Durban.

Motorsport

• 23 January – The South African Grand Prix is held at Kyalami

Births

Deaths

• 5 February - Neil Aggett, trade union leader and labour activist, dies in police detention
• 29 March - Henry Selby Msimang, journalist and political activist dies in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg at the age of 95
• 4 June - P. Nyaose, senior African National Congress member, and his wife, are killed by a car bomb in Swaziland
• November - Policeman W/O P. Selepe, who gave evidence in many trials is killed in Mamelodi