South Africa sent a team to compete at the 1972 Summer Paralympics held in Heidelberg, West Germany, from 2 to 11 August.

[1] The team won forty-one medals—sixteen gold, twelve silver and thirteen bronze—and finished fourth in the medal table.

[2] Despite being banned from the Olympic Games, because of the policy of apartheid, since 1964 South Africa continued to participate in the Paralympics until 1976.

[4] This is in contrast to later Paralympics that include events for participants that fit into any of five different disability categories; amputation, either congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.

[9] Nineteen of the South African delegation entered athletics events, nine male and ten female.