Greeks in South Africa

Greek South Africans
Έλληνες Νοτιοαφρικανοί

Greek Orthodox Saints Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Hillbrow, Johannesburg
Total population
120,000 (estimate) 50,000-60,000 (estimate) 120,000 (estimate, 1970) 70,000 (estimate, 1990) 40,000 (estimate, 2012) 35,000 (estimate, 2022)
Languages
South African English Afrikaans Greek
Religion
Greek Orthodox Church
Related ethnic groups
Mediterraneans, Turkish South Africans, Italian South Africans, Portuguese South Africans

Map of the top 50 countries with the largest Greek communities.

Greek South Africans are South Africans of Greek ancestry from Greece and Cyprus.

Greek immigration to South Africa (at its highest in the 60s, with 10 790 immigrants) peaked in 1965 (Damanakis 2003). It gradually began to decline in the 70s and after 1994 many Greeks returned to Greece to retire, or because they harboured fears about the changing political situation in South Africa. The community has since decreased from an estimated 120,000 to 40,000.

Notable people

• George Bizos – human rights lawyer who campaigned against apartheid; noted for representing Nelson Mandela during the Rivonia Trial
• Demetri Catrakilis – professional rugby union player for Harlequins
• Stanley Christodoulou – international boxing judge and referee
• Ivan Gazidis – Chief Executive of AC Milan
• George Koumantarakis – former football player
• Nic Pothas – former professional cricketer
• Anastasia Tsichlas – football executive
• Dimitri Tsafendas – assassin of South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, who is commonly regarded as the architect of apartheid
• John Costa (b. 1868 – d. 1932) also known as Ioannis Papakostas was a Greek revolutionary and veteran of the Second Boer War
• Xen Balaskas (b. 1910 – d. 1994) - cricketer
• Stelio Savante – actor, producer and screenwriter
• Penny Siopis – artist
• Angelique Rockas – actress and theatre practitioner, pioneer of multi-racial theatre in London
• Panagiotis Retsos – footballer
• John Kongos – musician
• Costa Titch (b. 1995 – d. 2023) - rapper

See also

• Greek diaspora
• Greece–South Africa relations
• White South Africans

Further reading

• Mantzaris, E.A. (1999). "The Greeks in South Africa" (PDF). In Clogg, Richard (ed.). The Greek Diaspora in the Twentieth Century. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 120–136. ISBN 9780333600474. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2015.
• LacDuling & Barnes, Allistair & Lawrie (2012). "What is the future of Greek in South Africa? Language shift and maintenance in the Greek communinity of Johannesburg" (PDF). What is the future of Greek in South Africa?. pp. 159–172.

External links

• Hellenic Community of Cape Town
• https://www.saheti.co.za/
• Greeks in South Africa on AusGreekNet.com
• "Bilateral Relations Between Greece And South Africa". 17 July 2006. Archived from the original on 17 July 2006.</ref>