Egyptian Pharaoh Cheops has commanded to be built, and work has commenced on the largest and tallest pyramid the world will ever know. What will result will the Great Pyramid of Giza, rising 146 metres.

British aviator William Lancaster departs England in an attempt to set a speed record to Cape Town, flying an Avro Mark VIA Avian plane called the Southern Cross. He will last be seen in Algeria flying into the Sahara Desert on 12 April, but will never be seen or heard from again. In February 1962, Lancaster’s mummified body will be discovered near the wreckage of his aircraft. Also found will be a log that recorded his crash on 12 April, and his agonising wait for rescue. The last entry will be dated 20 April 1933: "So the beginning of the eighth day has dawned. I have no water. I am waiting patiently. Come soon please. Fever wracked me last night. Hope you get my full log. Bill"

The French National Assembly in Paris passes a bill submitted by Felix Houphouët-Boigny, the representative of the people of Côte d'Ivoire and Upper Volta. The legislation bans forced labour, one of the most hated policies in French colonial Africa. The resulting law, the Loi Houphouët-Boigny, bears his name, and makes the future first president of Côte d’Ivoire an international political figure.

Litunga Imwiko, Paramount Chief of Barotseland, traveling in his royal barge, escorts the boat carrying Britain’s King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret as they cross the Zambezi River for a visit to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). King George’s family lunches in Livingston, and spends two days admiring Mosi-oa-Tunya, which the English call Victoria Falls after the British king's great-grandmother.

The national football team of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Leopards, plays its first official match, against Mauritania at the L'Amitié Tournament held in Dakar, Senegal. The DRC team wins with an impressive score of 6-0.

Algerian military dictator Houari Boumédiène visits U.S. President Richard Nixon in Washington, and restores Algerian-U.S. diplomatic relations. Relations between the countries were cut by Algeria in 1967 in protest of the U.S. backing of Israel in the Arab-Israeli War.

Uganda dictator Idi Amin flees Kampala by helicopter the day the Tanzania army captures the capital, ending the Uganda-Tanzania War. The conflict began when Amin invaded Tanzania in October 1978. The rebel Uganda National Liberation Front announces it now runs the country. Amin will find asylum in Saudi Arabia.

The opening of the stage musical District Six by David Kramer and Taliep Peterson, at Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre, sees the first of many sell-out performances. The play’s songs, criticising the apartheid government’s destruction of Cape Town’s District Six mixed-race community in 1967, are banned from South African radio.

Zambia President Edgar Lungu orders the arrest for treason, which carries the death penalty, of opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema (pic). Hichilema's crime is to commit a minor traffic offense by not yielding the right of way to Lungu’s motorcade. Executing the arrest warrant, police attack Hichilema’s house with tear gas (his wife and children are asthmatic), loot the residence and defecate on Hichilema’s bed. He is held in solitary confinement for eight days without food, water or light, until global protests secure his release.

After mass demonstrations seeking the end of his 30-year dictatorship, Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir is arrested by the military, which declares a three-month State of Emergency.

Cameroon's Joel Embiid becomes the first non-American to become the season’s Scoring Champion in the U.S.’ National Basketball Association (NBA). The 213cm, 128kg 28 year-old from Yaoundé averaged more than 30 points per game in the 2021-2022 season.