1876 in South Africa

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Henry Barkly.
• Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.
• State President of the South African Republic: Thomas François Burgers.
• Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West: William Owen Lanyon.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Charles Molteno.

January

• The inaugural Champion Bat Tournament is held, a predecessor of first-class cricket in South Africa.
• 15 – Die Patriot, the first Afrikaans newspaper, begins to be published in Paarl.

February

• 5 – The ship Memento sinks off East London and two 2nd Class 2-6-2TT locomotives intended for the Eastern System of the Cape Government Railways are lost.^[1]

March

• 27 – The Cape Times, the first daily newspaper in South Africa, begins in Cape Town, Cape Colony

June

• 16 – The railway line from Cape Town to Worcester is officially opened.

July

• Construction begins on the Cape Town Central Station as hub to the Cape Government Railways.

October

• 19 – The 2,700 ton steamer Windsor Castle sinks off Dassen Island.

Unknown date

• A Dutch Reformed Church is built at what is now the town of Amersfoort in Mpumalanga Province.
• Prime Minister Molteno travels as plenipotentiary to London to discuss Britain's proposed confederation model for southern Africa.
• The "Molteno Unification Plan" is put forward as an alternative model for eventual political consolidation in southern Africa.^[2]
• Isigidimi Sama Xhosa, the first Xhosa-run newspaper, is begun in Lovedale, Cape Colony.
• Britain admits wrongful action in its annexation of Griqualand West.
• President Johannes Brand of the Orange Free State rejects any discussion of Carnarvon's proposed confederation system for Southern Africa.
• The country's first official archives are created when the Cape Government appoints a commission to assemble, sort and index the records of the Cape.^[3]
• Southern Africa's first railway tunnel, the Hex River tunnel on the railway line between Osplaas and Matroosberg, is completed.^[4]

• 9 October – Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator, and writer, is born near Boshof, Orange Free State.
• 21 October – Sir Fraser Russell, Governor of Southern Rhodesia. (d. 1952)

• Construction begins on the East London-King William's Town line.^[5][6]
• In Natal construction begins on the Cape gauge railway line inland from Durban.^[5]

• 1 January – Namaqualand – Kookfontein to O'okiep, 32 miles (51.5 kilometres).^[7]
• 1 April – Cape Midland – Addo to Sand Flats, 22 miles 30 chains (36.0 kilometres).^[8]
• 16 June – Cape Western – Ceres Road to Worcester, 24 miles 38 chains (39.4 kilometres).^[8]
• 14 September – Cape Western – Bellville to Muldersvlei, 13 miles 37 chains (21.7 kilometres).^[8]
• 18 December – Cape Eastern – East London to Breidbach, 38 miles 73 chains (62.6 kilometres).^[8]

Cape

Six new locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):

• The first ten of eighteen 1st Class 2-6-0 Mogul goods locomotives on the Western system.^{[1][9]: 28–29 [10]}
• A pair of Stephenson's Patent back-to-back 2-6-0 Mogul type side-tank locomotives on the Cape Midland system.^{[1][11]: 118–121}
• The first of eight 2-6-0 Mogul tender locomotives on the Midland system, also designated 1st Class, all later rebuilt to saddle-tank shunting engines.^{[1][9]: 28 [11]: 118–121}
• A single experimental 0-6-0+0-6-0 Fairlie locomotive and a pair of 0-6-0 Stephenson's Patent permanently coupled back-to-back tank locomotives for comparative trials on the Eastern system. The Fairlie is the first articulated locomotive to enter service in South Africa.^{[9]: 25–28, 31–32 [12][13][14]}
• The first of three 1st Class 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives with domed boilers on the Eastern System.^{[1][11]: 118–119}

Natal

• In January the Natal Railway Company obtains its third and last 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) broad gauge locomotive, a side-tank engine named Perseverance.^{[9]: 20–22}