See also: 1997 in South Africa, other events of 1998, 1998 in South African sport, 1999 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

January

Policemen from the North East Rand Dog Unit set their dogs on three suspected illegal immigrants

• 3 January - Six policemen from the North East Rand Dog Unit set their dogs on three suspected illegal immigrants, allowing the animals to savage the three men as the officers hurled racial insults. The incident was caught on video and televised nationally on Nov. 7, 2000, causing widespread outrage. All six policemen were ultimately sentenced to jail terms of between four and five years each. ^[1]

^[2]

March

• 9 March - Robert McBride, an official in the Department of Foreign Affairs is arrested by the Mozambican police in Ressano Garcia, Mozambique for gun smuggling
• 18 March - An ex-Rhodesian Royal Air Force Percival Provost Mk 52, which had only recently been restored to flying condition by the South African Air Force Museum. The pilot, Rick Culpan who was a test pilot for Denel Aviation, dies 4 days later from his injuries.
• 21 March - The Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA) is started

May

• 19 May - Voortrekkerhoogte is renamed Thaba Tshwane

June

• 4 June - Ferdi Barnard, Civil Cooperation Bureau member, receives 2 life sentences plus 63 years in prison for the murder of David Webster
• * 5 June - Thulane Malinga, super middleweight boxer, wins the World Boxing Federation (WBF) title

July

• 16 July - Bulelani Ngcuka is elected as the first National Director of Public Prosecutions

August

• 25 August - A pipe bomb explodes at Cape Town's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront's Planet Hollywood restaurant seriously injuring 26 people which two later died in hospital

September

• 14 September - Robert McBride, an official in the Department of Foreign Affairs, is conditionally released from prison in Mozambique
• 16 September - A South African Air Force Impala I crashes at AFB Bloemspruit

December

• Sivan Pillay discovers SA Rock band Watershed in Times Square Sandton

Unknown date

• The Black Tie Ensemble is founded Mimi Coertse and Neels Hansen

Sport

Athletics

• February 22 – Frank Pooe wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:13:09 in Pinelands.

Births

Deaths

• 22 April – Kitch Christie (58), rugby coach who led the Springboks to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup (leukemia)
• 4 May - Worsie Visser (35), singer, is killed when his plane crashes at Saldanha Bay, Western Cape
• 7 May - Allan Cormack (74), physicist, dies of cancer in Massachusetts
• 17 December - Dorothy Nyembe, a political activist passes away

References