An estimated 500,000 people die from the Spanish flu epidemic in South Africa, the fifth hardest hit country in the world.
January
8 – The Koöperatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika (Co-operative Winemakers' Society of South Africa, KWV) is founded in Paarl, Western Cape.
April
2 – Victoria College becomes the Stellenbosch University.
May
14 – The Three Minute Pause, initiated by the daily firing of the Noon Gun on Signal Hill, is instituted by Cape Town Mayor Sir Harry Hands.
June
4 – RMS Kenilworth Castle, one of the Union-Castle Line steamships, collides with her escort destroyer HMS Rival while trying to avoid her other escort, the cruiser HMS Kent.
5 – The Afrikaner Broederbond, a confidential cultural organisation, is founded in Johannesburg.
November
25 – German East Africa troops sign a ceasefire at Abercorn in Northern Rhodesia.
16 July – John Everitt (Jack) Frost, World War II fighter pilot, is born in Queenstown, Eastern Cape. (d. MIA 1942)
18 July – Nelson Mandela, activist and president, is born in Mvezo, Eastern Cape. (d. 2013)
5 December – Schalk Willem Burger, Boer military leader, lawyer, politician and statesman, acting President of the South African Republic from 1900 to 1902. (b. 1852)
2 February – Cape – Kootjieskolk to Calvinia, 43 miles 47 chains (70.1 kilometres).
16 September – Cape – Kootjieskolk to Sakrivier, 27 miles 21 chains (43.9 kilometres).
Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):
The first batch of twenty Class 14C 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives.
The first of thirty Class 15B 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives.
Eight Class MJ1 branchline 2-6-6-0 Mallet articulated compound steam locomotives.
1918 in South Africa Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
