6 January – A truck crashes into a minibus and another vehicle onVan Reenen's Pass inKwaZulu-Natal, killing 18 people and seriously injuring an infant.[1]
15 January – At least 78 miners are confirmed dead and 246 others are rescued following the end of protracted rescue efforts at the closedBuffelsfontein mine inNorth West Province that began in July 2024.[3]
19 January – A bus crashes into a concrete centre barrier along theN2 highway betweenNanaga andMakhanda inEastern Cape, killing five people and injuring six others.[4]
27 January – A fire at theBooysens slum inJohannesburg destroys 1,500 homes and displaces hundreds of residents.[5]
13 March – South Africa announces the withdrawal of its military contingent from theSouthern African Development Community peacekeeping mission to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.[14]
2 April – TheDemocratic Alliance votes against the passage of the government budget despite being part of the unity government. The budget passes with support from non-coalition memberActionSA.[16]
10 April – American pastor Joh Sullivan is abducted while conducting a church service inGqeberha. He is rescued on 14 April following a shootout that leaves three of his kidnappers dead.[17]
25 April – Awildfire breaks out atTable Mountain inCape Town, destroying 3,000 hectares of vegetation and prompting the evacuation of 200 residents.[19]
29 April – Five people, including three police officers, are found dead along theHennops River nearPretoria.[20]
3 May – A minibus taxi and a pickup-truck collide head-on in theEastern Cape, killing 15 people.[21]
8 May –
At least 123 vultures are killed in a mass poisoning caused by the consumption of an elephant carcass laced by poachers with pesticides atKruger National Park.[22]
The bodies ofPretoria-based radio journalist Sibusiso Aserie Ndlovu and his partner, both of whom went missing on 18 February, are discovered inLimpopo Province.[23]
16 May – TheWorld Anti-Doping Agency revokes the accreditation of Africa's only recognized drug-testing laboratory, located inBloemfontein, citing "inability to satisfactorily address multiple nonconformities".[26]
22 May – An incident at a gold mine outsideJohannesburg leaves over 260 miners stranded underground.[27][28]
17 June – A bus and a truck collide nearVryheid,KwaZulu-Natal, killing 12 people and injuring 30 others.[32]
23 June – A mini-bus taxi and a truck bus collide nearDelmas,Mpumalanga, killing 10 people and injuring 24 others.[33]
25 June – The Pretoria High Court orders a suspension of theprivate burial of former presidentEdgar Lungu in South Africa amid adispute between Lungu's family and the Zambian government over the funeral arrangements.[34]
13 July –Senzo Mchunu is suspended as police minister by President Ramaphosa amid allegations of the former's involvement with organized crime groups.[37]
3 August – An American hunter is killed by aCape buffalo during a hunting expedition inLimpopo.[38]
7 August – Charges against Adrian de Wet, accused in afarm murder case nearPolokwane, are officially withdrawn; he turns state witness and is released from custody.[39]
8 August – The Pretoria High Court orders the family of deceased former Zambian presidentEdgar Lungu to repatriate hisremains to Zambia and allow the Zambian government to hold a state funeral for him.[40] A final appeal by Lungu's family is rejected on 16 September.[41]
19 August – John Hume, the former owner of the Platinum Rhino site that was formerly the world's largestrhinoceros farm located inNorth West, is arrested on suspicion of trafficking 964 rhino horns to the black market in Southeast Asia.[42]
10 September – Seven Chinese nationals are sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for human trafficking and kidnapping following the discovery of a sweatshop inJohannesburg that employed 91 Malawians smuggled into the country.[44]
The government reopens an investigation into the death of anti-apartheid activistSteve Biko in 1977.[46]
A judge rejects a petition by convicted rapist and murdererThabo Bester and his partnerNandipha Magudumana to preventNetflix from releasing a documentary series about him titledBeauty and the Bester, saying that the issue is in thepublic domain.[47]
1 October – EFF leaderJulius Malema is convicted by theEast London Magistrates Court of breaking firearms laws over his firing of a rifle at a political rally in 2018.[50]
3 October – TheConstitutional Court rules that all parents are entitled to equalparental leave, declaring parts of the labour law unconstitutional and givingParliament three years to amend it.[51]
21 October – Two teenagers are killed and five wounded in a suspected gang-related shooting inJohannesburg.[56]
30 October – A court inPietermaritzburg rules that anti-apartheid leaderAlbert Luthuli was beaten to death in 1967, overturning a previous finding of accidental death.[57]
President Ramaphosa appointsWillie Aucamp as Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment andAlexandra Abrahams as Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.[59]
21 November – The government classifiesgender-related violence andfemicide as a national disaster following nationwide protests and a large-scale public campaign coordinated by Women for Change.[61]
28 November –Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla resigns from theNational Assembly amid allegations that she had recruited 17 South Africans to fight as mercenaries for the Russian war effort in Ukraine.[64]
29 November – Police arrest four men atO. R. Tambo International Airport suspected of being recruited to fight inRussia; President Ramaphosa orders an official investigation into the recruitment and the 17 South Africans already inUkraine.[65]
8 December – South Africa withdraws its 90-day visa-free entry policy for Palestinian nationals in response to the landing of unauthorized charter flights carrying Palestinians on its territory.[69]
12 December – Five people are killed following a collapse at an under-construction building at a Hindu temple inVerulam, KwaZulu-Natal.[70]
