← 1937 1936 1935 1938 in South Africa → 1939 1940 1941
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

Тhe follоwing lists evеnts that hapрened during 1938 in South Africа.

• Monarch: King George VI.
• Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Sir Patrick Duncan
• Prime Minister: James Barry Munnik Hertzog.
• Chief Justice: John Stephen Curlewis then James Stratford.

• 1 – The South African Press Association is established with offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein and Pretoria.

• 16 – The cornerstone of the Voortrekker Monument is laid.
• 23 – A coelacanth, a fish thought to have gone extinct prehistorically, is caught off the east coast near Chalumna River mouth.

• A contract is awarded to the Hollandse Anneming Maatschappij Eiendoms Beperk to construct a new Table Bay harbour in Cape Town by reclaiming ground on the Foreshore and building new and deeper docks.^[1][2]
• South African Jewish Maritime League is established.^[3]

• 17 January – Percy Qoboza, journalist, author and critic of the Nationalist government, in Sophiatown. (d. 1988)
• 5 June – David Nthubu Koloane, artist, in Alexandra.
• 4 July
  • Cyril Mitchley, South African cricketer, umpire and match referee.
  • Ernie Pieterse, South African racing driver.
• 13 August – Lindiwe Mabuza, South African politician and diplomat (d. 2021)
• 12 November – Steve Tshwete, activist and politician, in Springs. (d. 2002)
• 18 November – Zanele Dlamini Mbeki, former First Lady of South Africa as the wife of former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, founder of Women's Development Bank

• 6 November – Transvaal – Midway to Bank, 21 miles 2 chains (33.8 kilometres).^[4]

• Three new locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):
  • The first of the Class 15F 4-8-2 Mountain type, at 255 the most numerous steam locomotive class on the South African Railways (SAR).^[5]
  • One hundred and thirty-six Class 23 locomotives enter service, the last and the largest 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotive to be designed by the SAR.^[1][2][5][6]
  • The first of sixteen Class GM 4-8-2+2-8-4 Double Mountain type Garratt articulated steam locomotives.^[1][2][7]