The following lists events that happened during 1902 in South Africa.
Incumbents
Cape Colony
Governor of the Cape of Good Hope: Walter Hely-Hutchinson. Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Gordon Sprigg.
Natal
Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Edward McCallum. Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Albert Henry Hime.
Orange Free State / Orange River Colony
State President of the Orange Free State: Martinus Theunis Steyn (until 31 May). Governor of the Orange River Colony and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner. Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony: Hamilton Goold-Adams.
South African Republic / Transvaal
State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger (until 31 May) (in exile); Schalk Willem Burger (acting until 31 May). Governor of the Transvaal and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner. Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal: Sir Arthur Lawley.
Events
February
27 – Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria for the murder of Boer prisoners of war near Louis Trichardt.
March
7 – The Burghers win their last battle over British forces, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.
April
4 – The town Concordia in Namaqualand surrenders to Boer forces. 8 – O'okiep is besieged by Boer forces under General Jan Smuts.
May
1 – Boer commandos use the locomotive Pioneer to propel a truck-load of dynamite into the besieged O'okiep. 4 – Boer General Jan Smuts meets with the British General Herbert Kitchener at Kroonstad. 6 – Qulusi-Zulu chief Sikhobobo with a 300-strong impi attacks Field-cornet Potgieter and 70 Boers while sleeping, leaving 56 Burghers and 52 Zulus dead in the Battle of Holkrans. 31 – The Second Boer War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at Melrose House in Pretoria.
December
Mahatma Gandhi arrives in Durban from Bombay.
Unknown date
James Stevenson-Hamilton is appointed the first warden of the Sabie Game Reserve.
Births
1 January – Buster Nupen, South African cricketer. (d. 1977)
Deaths
26 March – Cecil John Rhodes, businessman, mining magnate, imperialist and politician. 2 May – Jan Stephanus de Villiers, composer and organist, dies in Paarl.
Railways
Railway lines opened
1 May – Free State – Bloemfontein to Sannaspos, . 18 July – Natal – Tugela to Mhlatuze, . 1 August – Cape Midland – Cookhouse to Somerset East, . 1 August – Cape Midland – Klipplaat to Willowmore, . 1 August – Cape Western – Sir Lowry's Pass Village to Caledon, . 15 November – Cape Western – Moorreesburg to Eendekuil, .
Locomotives
Cape
Four new Cape gauge and three narrow gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR): Fourteen 6th Class bar framed 4-6-0 passenger steam locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 6J on the South African Railways (SAR). The last ten 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives on the Eastern System. In 1912 they will be designated Class 7C on the SAR. The first thirteen of twenty-three 8th Class Mastodon locomotives on the Western, Midland and Eastern Systems. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8 on the SAR. A single experimental "Consolidation" type tandem compound steam locomotive, in 1912 designated Class Experimental 2 on the SAR. Three Type A 2-6-0 Mogul type steam locomotives, later to become Class NG7 on the SAR, on the Hopefield narrow gauge branchline that is being constructed from Kalbaskraal. Two Type A 2-6-4T Adriatic type narrow gauge locomotives on construction service on the new Avontuur branch that is being built out of Port Elizabeth through the Langkloof. A single Type C 0-4-0 narrow gauge tank steam locomotive named Midget on the Avontuur branch. Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service with the East London and Table Bay Harbour Boards: Two 0-6-0 saddle-tank locomotives enter shunting service at the East London Harbour. Eleven 2-6-0 saddle-tank locomotives enter harbour shunting service in Table Bay Harbour.