SAU - South African Universities

There are 26 universities in South Africa in 2026, and according to the governing body, University Sport South Africa, all participate in competitive sports. 

In the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic, there were a number of University Colleges in the country that provided the teaching, while the University of South Africa, based in Pretoria, provided exams and awarded degrees, following the English system. This changed with the University of South Africa Act (No. 12) 1916, which created the University of Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch. The Act also recognised six University Colleges: Natal University College (Pietermaritzburg), Rhodes University College (Grahamstown), Grey University College (Bloemfontein), South African School of Mines and Technology (Wits)(Johannesburg), Huguenot Kollege (Wellington) and Potchefstroom University College (in 1922).

These institutions participated in the 

Inter-varsity sports have been a feature of student life since  1911, when the Victoria College of Stellenbosch and South African University College of Cape Town began a series of annual rugby matches. 

The timeline of South African Universities officially begins in 1929, when the first inter-varsity tournament was hosted by the Transvaal University College (TUC) at the  Central Municipal Swimming Pool in Pretoria. The TUC was renamed the University of Pretoria in 1930.

University of Natal (Durban) Aquatics Team ~ 1985 ~ SA Universities Champs ~ Cape Town — with Shaun Callaghan, Derek Ethelstone, Rory Mapstone, Rob Lumb, Tracey Wannenburg, Udo Jurressen, Pierre Venter, Haden Mottram, Robbie Portsmith, Allan Tenant, Allison Gittings, Peter Mommogos, Herman Chalupsky, Tracy Cockheadand Keith Armstrong in Cape Town, South Africa.

Click here to see the results from SAU in 2008.

1956 SAU at Rhodes

First South African Universities Tournament - 1929 - where they competed for the Roberts Shield

Much of this material is from the private archive of former SAASU president Harry Getz, who was the driving force behind the annual inter-varsity swimming, diving and water polo tournament for many years. In 1961 and 1963 he arranged the participation of South Africa in the Universiades (World Student Games) held in Bulgaria and Brazil.

Intervarsity was not part of the SAASU programme, although the same competitors and officials participated, and new national records were recognized. The host universities were initially UCT, Rhodes and Wits, where students stayed in university dorms during the holidays and swam in the university pool.

13 March 1939 - SAU at Rhodes University in Grahamstown

South African Universities Swimming badge

Stellenbosch c.1985 - Thys Lombard, Ellen Lombard Mason, Herman Nienaber,Libby Burrell, Harald Ruck and Monique Dokter.