2002 in South Africa

← 2001 2000 1999 2002 in South Africa → 2003 2004 2005
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	2002 in South African sport List of years in South Africa

ECOPEACE Party Protest at the United States consulate in 2002

The following lists events that happened during 2002 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• President: Thabo Mbeki. ^[1]
• Deputy President: Jacob Zuma.
• Chief Justice: Arthur Chaskalson.

Cabinet

The Cabinet, together with the President and the Deputy President, forms part of the Executive.

Main article: First Cabinet of Thabo Mbeki

Main article: Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (South Africa)

National Assembly

Main article: 23rd South African Parliament

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. ^[2]

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.

Births

• 19 January – Fikile Magama, soccer player
• 30 January – Tyla, singer
• 22 February – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, rugby player
• 19 March – Paballo Koza, actor
• 7 March – Diyen Chetty,soccer player

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)

See also

• 2002 in South African television

References

1. Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1994-2017 (Accessed on 5 June 2017)
2. "Victims of shooting rampage fight for their lives". 11 February 2002. Retrieved 10 September 2023.