Misplaced Pages

← 2001 2000 1999 2002 in South Africa → 2003 2004 2005
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	2002 in South African sport List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 2002 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• President: Thabo Mbeki.
• Deputy President: Jacob Zuma.
• Chief Justice: Arthur Chaskalson.

Cabinet

The Cabinet, together with the President and the Deputy President, forms part of the Executive.

National Assembly

Provincial Premiers

• Eastern Cape Province: Makhenkesi Stofile
• Free State Province: Winkie Direko
• Gauteng Province: Mbhazima Shilowa
• KwaZulu-Natal Province: Lionel Mtshali
• Limpopo Province: Ngoako Ramathlodi
• Mpumalanga Province: Ndaweni Mahlangu
• North West Province: Popo Molefe
• Northern Cape Province: Manne Dipico
• Western Cape Province:
  • until 3 June: Peter Marais
  • 3 June-21 June: Piet Meyer
  • since 21 June: Marthinus van Schalkwyk

Events

January

• 29 – Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian organisation, begins importing a cheap generic version of patented AIDS drugs into South Africa in defiance of South Africa's patent laws.

February

• 9 – Bulelani Vukwana, an off-duty security guard, kills ten people and wounds others during a shooting spree in Mdantsane, near East London. The massacre - triggered by a failed relationship - ends when Vukwana kills himself, surrounded by police.

March

• 27 – Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang approaches the Constitutional Court to stop the issuing of Nevirapine.
• Sivan Pillay, Ed Jordan, Nkhensani Mangani and Karl Anderson are appointed as the first judges of reality show Coca-Cola Popstars, which yields two new pop groups, winners 101 and runners-up Afro Z.

April

• 25 – Mark Shuttleworth becomes the second self-funded spaceflight participant.
• 26 – A South African Air Force Impala Mk I jet crashes near the Albasini Dam between Louis Trichardt and Musina, killing pilot Captain Brett Burmeister.

May

• 20 – Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang announces at the World Health Assembly in Geneva that South Africa pledges R20 million to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

June

• 16 – The Hector Pieterson Museum becomes the first museum to open in Soweto.
• 27 – Two South African Air Force Oryx helicopters, flying from the South African Antarctic research ship Agulhas, takes emergency food supplies and evacuates 21 Russian scientists from the German-owned Magdalena Oldendorff which has been trapped in ice off Antarctica since 16 June.

July

• 15 – Nelson Mandela calls on government and business leaders worldwide to find ways to provide access to treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS.

August

• 8 – The government announces the approval of an anti-retroviral roll-out plan.
• 9 – Ed Fagan leads a $50bn class action suit by a few apartheid-era victims against international firms and banks who profited from dealings with the apartheid government.
• 25 – The Medicines Control Council threatens to de-register Nevirapine unless further studies and appropriate documentation can show its efficacy in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

September

• 15 – Johan Pretorius, Boeremag member, is arrested and charged when he is found with a truckload of weapons and explosives in Lichtenburg.
• 20 – Boeremag members Dirk Hanekom and Henk van Zyl are arrested in Memel, Free State, but only Hanekom is charged.
• 22 – A South African Air Force Museum T-6G Harvard crashes into power lines during a flypast at Africa Aerospace and Defence 2002, being held at AFB Waterkloof, Pretoria. Pilot Colonel Jeff Earle escapes with minor injuries.

October

• 10 – President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki states that AIDS drugs are dangerously toxic to people and questions whether HIV or poverty is the true cause of Aids.
• 30 – Nine bombs explode in Soweto and one in Bronkhorstspruit. The Boeremag claims responsibility.

November

• 4 – Alleged Boeremag leader Tom Vorster is arrested in Pretoria for the October bombings.
• 22 – A bomb explodes at the Grand Central Airport in Midrand, Gauteng.
• 28 – A bomb explodes on a bridge on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape Provinces.

December

• 16–20 – The African National Congress holds its 51st National Conference in Stellenbosch.

Unknown date

• Mbongeni Ngema's controversial song "AmaNdiya" is banned.

Births

• 19 January – Fikile Magama, soccer player
• 30 January – Tyla, singer
• 22 February – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, rugby player
• 19 March – Paballo Koza, actor
• 7 March – Diyen Chetty,soccer player

Deaths

• 26 April – Steve Tshwete, activist and politician. (b. 1938)
• 15 May – Nellie Shabalala, musician. (b. 1953)
• 1 June – Hansie Cronje, cricketer. (b. 1969)
• 29 June – Stephen Fry, Springbok captain. (b. 1924)

See also

• 2002 in South African television

References

1. Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1994-2017 (Accessed on 5 June 2017)
2. "Victims of shooting rampage fight for their lives". 11 February 2002. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

v t e Years in South Africa (1901–present)
1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

• 2002 in South Africa
• Years of the 21st century in South Africa
• 2002 by country
• Years in South Africa
• 2000s in South Africa