The following lists events that happened during 2002 in South Africa.
Incumbents
President: Thabo Mbeki. Deputy President: Jacob Zuma. Chief Justice: Arthur Chaskalson.
Cabinet
The Cabinet, together with the President and the Deputy President, forms part of the Executive.
National Assembly
Provincial Premiers
Eastern Cape Province: Makhenkesi Stofile
Free State Province: Winkie Direko
Gauteng Province: Mbhazima Shilowa
KwaZulu-Natal Province: Lionel Mtshali
Limpopo Province: Ngoako Ramathlodi
Mpumalanga Province: Ndaweni Mahlangu
North West Province: Popo Molefe
Northern Cape Province: Manne Dipico
Western Cape Province: until 3 June: Peter Marais 3 June-21 June: Piet Meyer since 21 June: Marthinus van Schalkwyk
Events
January
29 – Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian organisation, begins importing a cheap generic version of patented AIDS drugs into South Africa in defiance of South Africa's patent laws.
February
9 – Bulelani Vukwana, an off-duty security guard, kills ten people and wounds others during a shooting spree in Mdantsane, near East London. The massacre - triggered by a failed relationship - ends when Vukwana kills himself, surrounded by police.
March
27 – Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang approaches the Constitutional Court to stop the issuing of Nevirapine. Sivan Pillay, Ed Jordan, Nkhensani Mangani and Karl Anderson are appointed as the first judges of reality show Coca-Cola Popstars, which yields two new pop groups, winners 101 and runners-up Afro Z.
April
25 – Mark Shuttleworth becomes the second self-funded spaceflight participant. 26 – A South African Air Force Impala Mk I jet crashes near the Albasini Dam between Louis Trichardt and Musina, killing pilot Captain Brett Burmeister.
May
20 – Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang announces at the World Health Assembly in Geneva that South Africa pledges R20 million to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
June
16 – The Hector Pieterson Museum becomes the first museum to open in Soweto. 27 – Two South African Air Force Oryx helicopters, flying from the South African Antarctic research ship Agulhas, takes emergency food supplies and evacuates 21 Russian scientists from the German-owned Magdalena Oldendorff which has been trapped in ice off Antarctica since 16 June.
July
15 – Nelson Mandela calls on government and business leaders worldwide to find ways to provide access to treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS.
August
8 – The government announces the approval of an anti-retroviral roll-out plan. 9 – Ed Fagan leads a $50bn class action suit by a few apartheid-era victims against international firms and banks who profited from dealings with the apartheid government. 25 – The Medicines Control Council threatens to de-register Nevirapine unless further studies and appropriate documentation can show its efficacy in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
September
15 – Johan Pretorius, Boeremag member, is arrested and charged when he is found with a truckload of weapons and explosives in Lichtenburg. 20 – Boeremag members Dirk Hanekom and Henk van Zyl are arrested in Memel, Free State, but only Hanekom is charged. 22 – A South African Air Force Museum T-6G Harvard crashes into power lines during a flypast at Africa Aerospace and Defence 2002, being held at AFB Waterkloof, Pretoria. Pilot Colonel Jeff Earle escapes with minor injuries.
October
10 – President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki states that AIDS drugs are dangerously toxic to people and questions whether HIV or poverty is the true cause of Aids. 30 – Nine bombs explode in Soweto and one in Bronkhorstspruit. The Boeremag claims responsibility.
November
4 – Alleged Boeremag leader Tom Vorster is arrested in Pretoria for the October bombings. 22 – A bomb explodes at the Grand Central Airport in Midrand, Gauteng. 28 – A bomb explodes on a bridge on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape Provinces.
December
16–20 – The African National Congress holds its 51st National Conference in Stellenbosch.
Unknown date
Mbongeni Ngema's controversial song "AmaNdiya" is banned.
Births
30 January – Tyla, singer
Deaths
26 April – Steve Tshwete, activist and politician. (b. 1938) 15 May – Nellie Shabalala, musician. (b. 1953) 1 June – Hansie Cronje, cricketer. (b. 1969) 29 June – Stephen Fry, Springbok captain. (b. 1924)