Greeks in South Africa
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Greek South Africans are South Africans of Greek ancestry from
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
and
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
. The Greek population in South Africa is estimated to be around 120,000.


Notable people

*
George Bizos George Bizos ( el, Γιώργος Μπίζος; 14 November 19279 September 2020) was a Greek-South African human rights lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in South Africa. He was noted for representing Nelson Mandela during the Rivonia ...
human rights lawyer International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...
who campaigned against
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
; noted for representing Nelson Mandela during the
Rivonia Trial The Rivonia Trial took place in South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, and led to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and the others among the accused who were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life at the Palace of Justice ...
*
Demetri Catrakilis Demetri Catrakilis ( gr, Δημήτρης Κατρακίλης, born on 6 July 1989) is a former South African professional rugby union player for the in the Pro14. He previously played for Premiership side Harlequins, Top 14 side in France, ...
– professional rugby union player for Harlequins *
Stanley Christodoulou Stanley Christodoulou (Greek language, Greek: Στάνλυ Χριστοδούλου; born 31 January 1946) is a South African international boxing judge and referee of Greek Cypriot descent. Christodoulou has judged bouts in his native South Africa ...
– international boxing judge and referee *
Ivan Gazidis Ivan Gazidis (born 13 September 1964) is the Executive of Italian Serie A club AC Milan. Biography Gazidis is of Greek origin, but was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the age of 4 moved to Manchester in the United Kingdom and attended ind ...
– Chief Executive of
AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...
* George Koumantarakis – former football player * Nic Pothas – former professional cricketer * Anastasia Tsichlas – football executive *
Dimitri Tsafendas Dimitri Tsafendas ( el, Δημήτρης Τσαφέντας; 14 January 1918 – 7 October 1999) was a Greek- Mozambican lifelong political militant and the assassin of Prime Minister of South Africa Hendrik Verwoerd on 6 September 1966.
– assassin of South African Prime Minister
Hendrik Verwoerd Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (; 8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966) was a South African politician, a scholar of applied psychology and sociology, and chief editor of '' Die Transvaler'' newspaper. He is commonly regarded as the architect ...
, who is commonly regarded as the architect of
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
* John Costa (b. 1868 – d. 1932) also known as Ioannis Papakostas was a Greek revolutionary and veteran of the
Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
*
Xen Balaskas Xenophon Constantine Balaskas (15 October 1910 – 12 May 1994), sometimes known as Xen or Bally, was a South African all-rounder who scored 2,696 first-class cricket runs at 28.68 and took 276 wickets at 24.11 with his leg-spin bowling. Born ...
(b. 1910 – d. 1994) - cricketer * Stelio Savante – actor, producer and screenwriter *
Penny Siopis Penny Siopis (born 5 February 1953) is a South African artist from Cape Town. She was born in Vryburg in the North West province from Greek parents who had moved after inheriting a bakery from Siopis maternal grandfather. Siopis studied Fine Ar ...
– artist *
Angelique Rockas Angelique Rockas is an actress, producer and activist. Rockas founded the theatre company Internationalist Theatre in the UK with her patron Athol Fugard. The theatre featured multi-racial casts in classical plays. Early life Rockas was born a ...
– actress and theatre practitioner, pioneer of multi-racial theatre in London * Panagiotis Retsos – footballer *
John Kongos John Theodore Kongos (born 6 August 1945) is a South African-born singer and songwriter of Greek ancestry, best known for his 1971 Top 10 hit single "He's Gonna Step on You Again", on which Happy Mondays based their hit " Step On". His other big ...
– musician


See also

*
Greek diaspora The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia ( el, Ομογένεια, Omogéneia), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus (excluding Northern Cyprus). Such places historically include Albania, North Macedonia, parts of ...
* Greece–South Africa relations *
White South Africans White South Africans generally refers to South Africans The population of South Africa is about 58.8 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The South African National Census of 2022 was the most recent censu ...


References


Further reading

*


External links


Greeks in South Africa
on AusGreekNet.com
Hellenic Community of Cape Town
Greek diaspora in Africa
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
Ethnic groups in South Africa Greek {{SouthAfrica-stub