1980 in South Africa

Events

14 January - Local community at Soekmekaar resist forced removal and damage police station
25 January - Three Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives Stephen Mafoko, Humphrey Makhubo and Wilfred Madela held the staff and customers in a Silverton bank in Pretoria hostage. This was followed by a shoot-out with the police in which two civilians and the three operatives were killed

Two terrorists or freedom fighters are killed by police in Bophutatswana but one escapes
12 March - The Nederduitse Gereformerde Kerk (NGK) together with its sister church for Blacks (the NGK in Afrika), Coloureds (the NG Sendingkerk) and Indians (the Reformed Church in Africa) issue a statement stating that the Churches bring no objection in principle if the authorities judge that circumstances justify reconsideration of the Immorality Act and the Mixed Marriages Act.
- Nine people are sentenced in Pretoria to five to seven years imprisonment for training as guerrillas outside South Africa and recruiting others to undergo training

4 April - Umkhonto we Sizwe attack the Booysens Police Station in Johannesburg with grenades, rocket launchers and AK47s
21 April - More than sixty coloured high schools, teacher training colleges and the University of the Western Cape start boycotting classes
29 April - Hundreds of coloured school children are arrested in Johannesburg during a student-police confrontation in terms of the Riotous Assemblies Act

2 May - Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall is banned because the government fear that it might be used as a song of liberty by black school children
6 May - Thozamile Botha, an activist in the Port Elizabeth area breaks his banning order and escapes to Maseru, Lesotho
25 May - The South African Defence Force attacks the city of Chifufua, Angola in Operation Sceptic

1 June Bombs explode at Sasol 1, 2 and Natref Eight at Sasolburg, Secunda with no injuries and R58-m damage. The attack was organised by Solomon Mahlangu of the Umkhonto weSizwe Special Operations.

14 October - Soweto community calls for a stayaway to protest against rent increases
15 October - Bomb explodes and damages railway line in Dube, Soweto and Piet Koornhof, minister of co-operation and development, visits the scene
29 October - Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres throw two grenades into the government buildings of the West Rand Administration Board and injure a security guard and friend
30 October - A bomb explodes at the Transkei consuls residence in Port Elizabeth; no injuries

21 November - A terrorist or freedom fighter is killed in Chiawelo and a child is injured by police

12 March - Lillian Masediba Ngoyi "Ma Ngoyi", a dressmaker, political activist and trade unionist, who suffered from heart trouble, dies at the age of 68 in Johannesburg
June - Expelled African National Congress official, Tennyson Makiwane is shot dead
4 June - Patrick Makau, Umkhonto weSizwe member, and his child (9) are killed in a bomb attack on two houses in Manzini, Swaziland.