The first section is operational of the Beira Railway in Portuguese Mozambique. The rail line is being built inland from Beira’s port to Mashonaland (Zimbabwe). Africans are allowed to sit on top of passenger cars, but risk being swept off by overhanging branches. Inside, white passengers sit on long benches running the length of the cars, and they are burned by sparks from the engine that enter windows that must be kept open due to the oppressive heat. When passengers smell burning clothing, an alarm is raised to see who is on fire.

The first action of Togo’s nationalist movement is taken when the richest man in Togoland (Togo), Octaviano Olympio, joins pastor Andreas Aku to petition German colonial authorities for equal treatment under law for the Togolese. A second petition is made in 1913.

The first Comrades Marathon, South Africa’s main marathon event, is run, from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. The best of the 34 runners who compete manages a winning time for the 87 km (55 mile) race of 8:59:00. (In 2019 – the Covid-19 pandemic will cancel the 2020 and 2021 races – 25,000 runners will compete, and the winning time will be 5:31:33.)

South African Xhosa religious cultists calling themselves Israelites refuse government’s orders to vacate land they consider holy. 500 Xhosa armed with spears confronted 800 soldiers attacking with cannon and machine guns. 163 Xhosa are killed at the Massacre of Bulhoek.

Opening of the Benue Bridge spanning the Benue River at Makurdi, Nigeria. At a cost of £1,000,000 (equal to £74,375,000 in 2022), it is the most expensive project Britain has undertaken in Africa, and is Africa’s longest bridge.

The Otto Beit Bridge spaning the Limpopo River to connect Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) with Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) is opened by the widow of Otto Beit, the Anglo-German mining baron who had interests in the area. The bridge’s engineers managed to overcome the challenge of the Limpopo’s seasonal flooding.

The planting of palm trees in the 1950s along the esplanade of Luanda in Portuguese Angola has given the city the most attractive waterfront on Southern Africa’s Atlantic coast.

Operation Solomon establishes an air transportation record: in 36 hours using 35 civilian and military aircraft, the Israeli military airlifts to Israel 14,325 Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) who are endangered by unrest in Ethiopia.

Eritrea achieves national independence, from Ethiopia. The date commemorates this day in 1991 when soldiers of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, fighting a 30-year war for Independence against Ethiopia, moved into the capital Asmara.

South Africa now hosts the world's most powerful wide-view visible light deep space telescope, as the MeerLICHT goes on-line in the Karoo. The desert’s clear air and distance from sources of light pollution makes it an ideal location for deep-space observation.