Greeks in South Africa

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

Greek South Africans
Έλληνες Νοτιοαφρικανοί

Greek Orthodox Saints Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Hillbrow, Johannesburg
Total population
120,000 (estimate, 1970)[1] 70,000 (estimate, 1990)[1] 40,000 (estimate, 2012)[2] 35,000 (estimate, 2022)[1][3]
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 immigration to South Africa (at its highest in the 1960s, with 10,790 immigrants) peaked in 1965 (Damanakis 2003). It gradually began to decline in the 1970s, 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.^[2]

Religion

There are multiple Greek Orthodox Churches in South Africa.^[4] Some of these include:

Agia Barbara Chapel, Skeerpoort, built 1952.

Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St George in Cape Town

• Cathedral of Sts. Constantine and Helen in Johannesburg
• Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St George in Cape Town
• Agia Barbara Chapel in Skeerpoort
• Greek Orthodox Church in Pretoria
• St Athanasios Church in Benoni
• Holy Church of St Seraphim of Sarof in Boksburg
• Greek Orthodox Church of St Bazil in Springs
• St John's Greek Orthodox Church in Germiston
• Saheti Church in Germiston
• Hellenic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary of Pantanassa in Melrose Estate
• Greek Orthodox Church in Alberton
• Greek Orthodox Church in Rondebosch
• Greek Orthodox Church of Archangels in George
• Orthodox Church of Saint Mary of Egypt in Robertson

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
• Peter Karmis, professional golfer
• Stanley Christodoulou, international boxing judge and referee
• Ivan Gazidis, President of AS Saint-Étienne
• 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

• South Africa portal
• Greece portal

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