← 1979 1978 1977 1980 in South Africa → 1981 1982 1983
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1980 in South Africa.

• State President: Marais Viljoen.^[1]
• Prime Minister: P.W. Botha.
• Chief Justice: Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff.

January

• 12 – The British Sports Council begins a fact-finding tour to investigate racial discrimination in South African sport.
• 14 – The local community at Soekmekaar resists forced removal and damages the police station.
• 25 – Four Umkhonto we Sizwe fighters kill two civilians and hold bank staff and customers hostage in Silverton.^[2]

March

• 12 – The Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk and its three sister churches announce that they have no objection to reconsideration of the Immorality- and Mixed Marriages Acts.
• 12 – Nine people are sentenced to imprisonment for training as guerrillas and recruiting others.
• 26 – A mine lift cage at the Vaal Reefs gold mine falls 1.9 kilometres (1.2 miles), killing 23.
• Two insurgents are killed by police in Bophuthatswana while another escapes.

April

• 4 – Umkhonto we Sizwe attacks the Booysens Police Station in Johannesburg with grenades, rocket launchers and AK47s.
• 21 – Over 60 coloured high schools, teacher training colleges and the University of the Western Cape begin class boycotts.
• 29 – In Johannesburg hundreds of coloured school children are arrested in terms of the Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956.

May

• 2 – Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall is banned for fear that it may become a song of liberty by black pupils.
• 6 – Thozamile Botha, a Port Elizabeth activist, breaks his banning order and escapes to Maseru, Lesotho.
• 25 – The South African Defence Force attacks the town of Chifufua in Angola during Operation Sceptic.

June

• 1 – Bombs explode at Sasol One and Two and Natref Eight at Sasolburg and Secunda, with no injuries and RM58 damage.
• 4 – Patrick Makau, Umkhonto weSizwe member, and his child die in a bomb attack in Manzini, Swaziland.
• Expelled African National Congress official Tennyson Makiwane is shot dead.

August

• Special Branch policeman Detective-Sergeant T.G. Zondi is shot at in Sobantu Village.

September

• 3 – Zimbabwe breaks diplomatic and consular relations with South Africa but maintains a commercial mission in Johannesburg.

October

• 14 – The Soweto community calls for a stayaway to protest against rent increases.
• 15 – A bomb damages a railway line in Dube, Soweto and Minister Piet Koornhof visits the scene.
• 29 – Umkhonto we Sizwe insurgents throw grenades into the West Rand Administration Board buildings, injuring two.
• 30 – A bomb explodes at the Transkei consul's residence in Port Elizabeth, with no injuries.

• 1 January – Megan McKenzie, model, voted South Africa's sexiest woman by readers of FHM in 2003, ranking behind only Halle Berry, sister of cricketer, Neil McKenzie.
• 4 January – Justin Ontong, cricketer
• 4 January – BJ Botha, rugby player
• 10 February – Gabriel Temudzani, actor
• 5 March – Brent Russell, rugby player
• 20 March – Surprise Moriri, football player
• 24 March – Conrad Jantjes, rugby player
• 14 May – Joe Van Niekerk, rugby player
• 19 May – Moeneeb Josephs, football player
• 6 June – Mmusi Maimane, politician and former Democratic Alliance leader
• 20 June – Kim Engelbrecht, actress best known for her portrayal of Lolly de Klerk on the SABC 3 soap opera; Isidingo
• 27 June – Kevin Pietersen, cricketer
• 3 July – Roland Schoeman, swimmer
• 11 July – Jabu Mahlangu, football player
• 27 August – CJ van der Linde, rugby player
• 8 September – Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, olympics middle distance runner silver medalist (d. 2014)
• 14 September – Hip Hop Pantsula, motswako rapper (d. 2018)
• 16 September – Mbulelo Mabizela, football player
• 24 September – Tanit Phoenix, model, actress, and makeup artist
• 12 August – Karin Kortje, singer
• 8 October – Cristina Boshoff, folk pop singer & pianist
• 9 October – Thami Tsolekile, cricketer
• 3 November – René Kalmer, long-distance runner
• 9 November– Benson Mhlongo, football player
• 11 November – Shashi Naidoo, TV presenter & actress
• 15 November – Kabamba Floors, rugby player
• 25 November – Aaron Mokoena, football player
• 25 November – Alviro Petersen, cricketer

• 24 February – Clement Martyn Doke, linguist. (b. 1893)
• 13 March – Lilian Ngoyi (Mma Ngoyi), dressmaker, activist and trade unionist. (b. 1911)
• 9 May – Kate Molale, activist. (b. 1928)
• 12 June – Billy Butlin, South African–born Canadian holiday camp entrepreneur. (b. 1899)
• 7 July – Johannes Meintjes, artist and writer. (b. 1923)
• 23 September – Jim Fouché, second State President. (b. 1898)

Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways:

• August – The first of 101 Class 36-200 General Motors Electro-Motive Division SW1002 diesel-electric locomotives.^[3][4][5]
• The first of thirty Class 34-900 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives.^[4][5]
• The first of fifty 25 kV AC Class 7E1 electric locomotives on the Richards Bay coal line.^[4][5]

• 11 October – Thompson Magawana wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:12:50 in Faure.

• 1 March – The South African Grand Prix takes place at Kyalami.

• 10 May – The British and Irish Lions begin an 18-match tour of South Africa despite protests from anti-apartheid groups. The tourists lose three of the four Tests.