title: 1917 in South Africa
text: # 1917 in South Africa
  
  The following lists events that happened during 1917 in South Africa.
  
  ## Incumbents
  
  * Monarch: King George V.
  * Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: The Viscount Buxton.
  * Prime Minister: Louis Botha.
  * Chief Justice: James Rose Innes
  
  ## Events
  
  ### January
  
  * 16 – The SS Mendi, a troopship, sets sail from Cape Town to Le Havre, France, transporting 823 members of the 802nd South African Native Labour Corps.
  
  ### February
  
  * 21 – The SS Mendi is struck on the starboard side by the SS Darro, an 11,000 ton liner, and sinks with the loss of 646 lives.
  
  ### September
  
  * The Industrial Workers of Africa, South Africa's first predominantly black trade union, is established in Johannesburg.
  
  ### Unknown date
  
  * The Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town is handed over to the South African Defence Force.
  * Gold mining company Anglo American Corporation is founded by Ernest Oppenheimer.
  
  ## Births
  
  * 27 October – Oliver Tambo, activist and revolutionary. (d. 1993)
  * 20 December – Petrus Hugo, Second World War fighter pilot. (d. 1986)
  
  ## Deaths
  
  * 18 January – Andrew Murray, author, educationist and pastor. (b. 1828)
  
  ## Railways
  
  ### Railway lines opened
  
  * 5 March – Natal – Izingolweni to Harding (narrow gauge), 39 miles 56 chains (63.9 kilometres).
  * 20 June – Natal – Gingindlovu to Eshowe, 20 miles 2 chains (32.2 kilometres).
  
  ### Locomotives
  
  * Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):
     * November – Ten Class 16B 4-6-2 Pacific type passenger steam locomotives.
     * Seven Class K 4-6-4 tank locomotives that had been built for the Philippines but could not be delivered.
     * At least four 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotives, built for the Chemins de Fer du Bas Congo à Katanga and obtained on temporary lease to alleviate the critical wartime shortage of locomotives.
  