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 census held; the next will be in 2032. In 2011, Statistics South ...

of European descent. In

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, cultural, and historical terms, they are generally divided into the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

-speaking descendants of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

's original settlers, known as

Afrikaners Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cas ...

, and the Anglophone descendants of predominantly

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

colonists of

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 ...

. In 2016, 57.9% were native Afrikaans speakers, 40.2% were native

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

speakers, and 1.9% spoke another language as their mother tongue, such as

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, or

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. White South Africans are by far the largest population of

White Africans White Africans of European ancestry refers to people in Africa who can trace full or partial ancestry to Europe. In 1989, there were an estimated 4.6 million white people with European ancestry on the African continent. Most are of Dutch, Portug ...

. ''White'' was a legally defined

racial classification A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

during

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 ...

. Most Afrikaners trace their ancestry back to the mid-17th century and have developed a separate cultural identity, including a distinct language. The majority of English-speaking White South Africans trace their ancestry to the 1820 British, Irish and Dutch Settlers. The remainder of the White South African population consists of later immigrants from Europe such as Greeks and

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

from Lithuania and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

immigrants arrived after the collapse of the Portuguese colonial administrations in

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

and

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, although many also originate from Madeira.

History

The history of White settlement in South Africa started in 1652 with the settlement of the Cape of Good Hope by the

(VOC) under Jan van Riebeeck. Despite the preponderance of officials and colonists from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, there were also a number of French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

s fleeing religious persecution at home and German soldiers or sailors returning from service in Asia. The

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

remained under Dutch rule for two more centuries, after which it was annexed by the United Kingdom around 1806. At that time, South Africa was home to about 26,000 people of European ancestry, a relative majority of whom were still of Dutch origin. However, the Dutch settlers grew into conflict with the British government over the

abolition of the slave trade Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and limits on colonial expansion into African lands. In order to prevent a frontier war, the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

decided to send British settlers to start farms on the eastern frontier. Beginning in 1818 thousands of

British settlers The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820. Origins After the ...

arrived in the growing

, intending to join the local workforce or settle directly on the frontier. Ironically most of the farms failed due to the difficult terrain, forcing the British settlers to encroach on African land in order to practice

pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as " livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The a ...

. About a fifth of the Cape's original

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

-speaking white population migrated eastwards during the

Great Trek The Great Trek ( af, Die Groot Trek; nl, De Grote Trek) was a Northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyon ...

in the 1830s and established their own autonomous Boer republics further inland. Nevertheless, the population of white ancestry (mostly European origin) continued increasing in the Cape as a result of settlement, and by 1865 had reached 181,592 people. Between 1880 and 1910, there was an influx of

(mainly via Lithuania) and immigrants from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

and Syria arriving in South Africa. Recent immigrants from the Levant region of Western Asia were originally classified as

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and thus "non-white", but, in order to have the right to purchase land, they successfully argued that they were "white". The main reason being that they were from the lands where

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

originated from, and that the race laws did not target Jews, who were also a

Semitic people Semites, Semitic peoples or Semitic cultures is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group. Afrikaner Commandos2

The first nationwide census in South Africa was held in 1911 and indicated a white population of 1,276,242. By 1936, there were an estimated 2,003,857 white South Africans, and by 1946 the number had reached 2,372,690. The country began receiving tens of thousands of European immigrants, namely from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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 the territories of the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

during the mid- to late twentieth century. South Africa's white population increased to over 3,408,000 by 1965, reached 4,050,000 in 1973, and peaked at 5,044,000 in 1990. The number of white South Africans resident in their home country began gradually declining between 1990 and the mid-2000s as a result of increased emigration. Whites continue to play a role in the South African economy and across the political spectrum. The current number of white South Africans is not exactly known, as no recent census has been measured, although the overall percentage of up to 9% of the population represents a decline, both numerically and proportionately, since the country's first non-racial elections in 1994. Just under a million white South Africans are also living as

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

workers abroad, which forms the majority of South Africa's brain drain.

Apartheid era

Under the Population Registration Act of 1950, each inhabitant of South Africa was classified into one of several different race groups, of which White was one. The Office for Race Classification defined a white person as one who "in appearance is obviously a white person who is generally not accepted as a coloured person; or is generally accepted as a white person and is not in appearance obviously a white person." Many criteria, both physical (e.g. examination of head and body hair) and social (e.g. eating and drinking habits, familiarity with Afrikaans or a European language) were used when the board decided to classify someone as white or coloured. This was virtually extended to all those considered the children of two white persons, regardless of appearance. The Act was repealed on 17 June 1991.

Post-apartheid era

In an attempt at post-Apartheid redress, the Employment Equity Act of 1994, legislation promotes employment of people ( Black Africans,

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

, Coloured and

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

population groups, as well as

disabled people Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

) according to the representation of their racial group as a proportion of the total South African population.

Black Economic Empowerment Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a policy of the South African government which aims to facilitate broader participation in the economy by black people. A form of affirmative action, it is intended especially to redress the inequalities creat ...

legislation further empowers blacks as the government considers ownership, employment, training and social responsibility initiatives, which empower black South Africans, as important criteria when awarding tenders;

private enterprises The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit (economics), profit or Non Profit, non profit, rather than being owned by t ...

also must adhere to this legislation. Some reports indicate a growing number of whites in poverty compared to the pre-apartheid years and attribute this to such laws – a 2006 article in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

stated that over 350,000 Afrikaners may be classified as poor, and alluded to research claiming that up to 150,000 were struggling for survival. As a consequence of Apartheid policies, Whites are still widely regarded as being one of 4 defined race groups in South Africa. These groups (blacks, whites, Coloureds and Indians) still tend to have strong racial identities, and to identify themselves, and others, as members of these race groups and the classification continues to persist in government policy due to attempts at redress like Black Economic Empowerment and Employment Equity.

Diaspora and emigration

Since the 1990s, there has been a significant emigration of whites from South Africa. Between 1995 and 2005, more than one million South Africans emigrated, citing violence as the main reason, as well as the lack of employment opportunities for whites.

Current trends

In recent decades, there has been a steady proportional decline in South Africa's white community, due to higher birthrates among other South African ethnic groups, as well as a high rate of emigration. In 1977, there were 4.3 million whites, constituting 16.4% of the population at the time. As of 2016, it is estimated that at least 800,000 white South Africans have emigrated since 1995. Like many other communities strongly affiliated with the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and Europe's colonial legacy in Africa, white South Africans were in the past often economically better off than their black African neighbours and have surrendered political dominance to majority rule. There were also some white Africans in South Africa who lived in poverty—especially during the 1930s and increasingly since the end of minority rule. Current estimates of white poverty in South Africa run as high as 12%, though fact-checking website Africa Check described these figures as "grossly inflated" and suggested that a more accurate estimate was that "only a tiny fraction of the white population – as few as 7,754 households – are affected." Lara Logan in Iraq

The new phenomenon of white poverty is mostly blamed on the government's affirmative action employment legislation, which reserves 80% of new jobs for black people and favours companies owned by black people (see

). In 2010,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

stated that 450,000 whites live below the poverty line according to Solidarity and civil organisations, with some research saying that up to 150,000 are struggling for survival. However, the proportion of white South Africans living in poverty is still much lower than for other groups in the country, since approximately 50% of the general population fall below the upper-bound

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

. A further concern has been crime. Some white South Africans living in affluent white suburbs, such as

Sandton Sandton is an upscale commercial and residential district north of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. The name of the city came from the combination of two of its suburbs ...

, have been affected by the 2008 13.5% rise in house robberies and associated crime. In a study,

Johan Burger Johan Petrus Burger is a South African businessman and the CEO of FirstRand. He succeeded Sizwe Nxasana who retired after nine years as CEO. Burger was previously the company's CFO. He graduated from the University of Johannesburg The Univer ...

, senior researcher at the

Institute for Security Studies The Institute for Security Studies, also known as ISS or ISS Africa (to distinguish itself from other similarly named institutes in other parts of the world), described itself as follows: "an African organisation which aims to enhance human se ...

(ISS), said that criminals were specifically targeting wealthier suburbs. Burger explained that several affluent suburbs are surrounded by poorer residential areas and that inhabitants in the latter often target inhabitants in the former. The report also found that residents in wealthy suburbs in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

were not only at more risk of being targeted but also faced an inflated chance of being murdered during the robbery. The

global financial crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

slowed the high rates of white people emigrating overseas and has led to increasing numbers of white emigrants returning to live in South Africa. Charles Luyckx, CEO of Elliot International and a board member of the Professional Movers Association, stated in December 2008 that emigration numbers had dropped by 10% in the six months prior. Meanwhile, "people imports" had increased by 50%. Fokofpolisiekar at Park Acoustics

In May 2014, Homecoming Revolution estimated that around 340,000 white South Africans had returned to South Africa in the preceding decade. Furthermore, immigration from Europe has also supplemented the white population. The 2011 census found that 63,479 white people living in South Africa were born in Europe; of these, 28,653 had moved to South Africa since 2001. At the end of apartheid in 1994, 85% of South Africa's

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...

was owned by whites. The land reform program introduced after the end of apartheid intended that, within 20 years, 30% of white-owned commercial farm land should be transferred to black owners. Thus, in 2011, the farmers' association, Agri South Africa, coordinated efforts to resettle farmers throughout the African continent. The initiative offered millions of hectares from 22 African countries that hoped to spur development of efficient commercial farming. The 30 percent target was not close to being met by the 2014 deadline. According to a 2017 government audit, 72% of the nation's private farmland is owned by white people. In February 2018, the Parliament of South Africa passed a motion to review the property ownership clause of the constitution, to allow for the expropriation of land, in the public interest, without compensation, which was supported within South Africa's ruling

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

on the grounds that the land was originally seized by whites without just compensation. In August 2018, the South African government began the process of taking two white-owned farmlands. Western Cape ANC secretary

Faiez Jacobs Faiez Jacobs (born 12 January 1973) is a South African politician who serves as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the ruling African National Congress (ANC). He took office as an MP on 22 May 2019. Jacobs was the Secretary of ...

referred to the property clause amendment as a "stick" to force dialogue about the transfer of land ownership, with the hope of accomplishing the transfer "in a way that is orderly and doesn't create a 'them' and 'us' ituation"

Demographics

South Africa 2011 White population proportion map

The Statistics South Africa Census 2011 showed that there were about 4,586,838 white people in South Africa, amounting to 8.9% of the country's population. This was a 6.8% increase since the 2001 census. According to the Census 2011, South African English is the

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

of 36% of the white population group and Afrikaans is the first language of 61% of the white population group. The majority of white South Africans identify themselves as primarily ''South African'', regardless of their first language or ancestry.

Religion

Approximately 87% of white South Africans are Christian, 9% are irreligious, and 1% are

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. The largest Christian denomination is the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

(NGK), with 23% of the white population being members. Other significant denominations are the Methodist Church (8%), the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(7%), and the

Anglican Church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

(6%).

Migrations

Many

white Africans of European ancestry White Africans of European ancestry refers to people in Africa who can trace full or partial ancestry to Europe. In 1989, there were an estimated 4.6 million white people with European ancestry on the African continent. Most are of Dutch, Portugu ...

have migrated to South Africa from other parts of the continent due to political or economic turmoil in their respective homelands. Thousands of

Portuguese Mozambicans Portuguese Mozambicans ( pt, luso-moçambicanos) are Mozambican-born descendants of Portuguese settlers. History Portuguese explorers turned to present-day Mozambique and two other PALOP nations (Angola and Guinea-Bissau) to bring black slav ...

Portuguese Angolans Portuguese Angolan ( pt, luso-angolano) is a person of Portuguese descent born or permanently living in Angola. The number of Portuguese Angolans dropped during the Angolan War of Independence, but several hundreds of thousands have again returne ...

, and white Zimbabweans emigrated to South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s. However, the overwhelming majority of European migration correlated with the historic colonization of the region (some migrating for the purpose of extraction of resources, minerals and other lucrative elements found in South Africa, others for a better life and farming opportunities without many restrictions in newly colonised lands). Meanwhile, many white South Africans have also emigrated to Western countries over the past two decades, mainly to

English-speaking Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...

countries such as the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. However, the financial crisis has slowed the rate of emigration and in May 2014, the Homecoming Revolution estimated that around 340,000 white South Africans had returned in the preceding decade.

Distribution

South Africa 2011 White population density map

According to Statistics South Africa, white South Africans make up 8.9% (Census 2011) of the total population in South Africa. Their actual proportional share in municipalities is likely to be higher, given the undercount in the 2001 census. The following table shows the distribution of white people by

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, according to the 2011 census:

Politics

Charles Bell - Jan van Riebeeck se aankoms aan die Kaap

White South Africans continue to participate in politics, having a presence across the whole

political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions. The expressions politi ...

from left to right. Cape Town cannabis march 2015 May 9

Former South African President Jacob Zuma commented in 2009 on Afrikaners being "the only white tribe in a black continent or outside of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

which is truly African", and said that "of all the white groups that are in South Africa, it is only the Afrikaners that are truly South Africans in the true sense of the word''.''" These remarks have led to the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) laying a complaint with the

Human Rights Commission A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...

against Zuma. According to the CCR's spokesman, Zuma's remarks constituted "unfair discrimination against non-Afrikaans-speaking, white South Africans....." In 2015, a complaint was investigated for hate speech against Jacob Zuma who said "You must remember that a man called Jan van Riebeeck arrived here on 6 April 1652, and that was the start of the trouble in this country." Former South African President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

stated in one of his speeches to the nation that: "South Africa belongs to everyone who lives in it. Black and White." Prior to 1994, a white minority held complete political power under a system of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

called

. During

, immigrants from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, and Japan were considered '' honorary whites'' in the country, as the government had maintained diplomatic relations with these countries. These were granted the same privileges as white people, at least for purposes of residence. Some African Americans such as

Max Yergan Max Yergan (July 19, 1892 – April 11, 1975) was an African-American activist notable for being a Baptist missionary for the YMCA, then a Communist working with Paul Robeson, and finally a staunch anti-Communist who complimented the government ...

were granted an "honorary white" status as well.

Statistics

Historical population

Statistics for the white population in South Africa vary greatly. Most sources show that the white population peaked in the period between 1989 and 1995 at around 5.2 to 5.6 million. Up to that point, the white population largely increased due to high birth rates and immigration. Subsequently, between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s, the white population decreased overall. However, from 2006 to 2013, the white population increased.

Fertility rates

Contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

among white South Africans is stable or slightly falling: 80% used contraception in 1990, and 79% used it in 1998. The following data shows some fertility rates recorded during South Africa's history. However, there are varied sources showing that the white fertility rate reached below replacement (2.1) by 1980. Likewise, recent studies show a range of fertility rates, ranging from 1.3 to 2.4. The Afrikaners tend to have a higher birthrate than that of other white people.

Life expectancy

The average life expectancy at birth for males and females

Unemployment

Income

Average annual household income by population group of the household head.

Percentage of workforce

Languages

Religion

Religion among white South Africans remains high compared to other white ethnic groups, but likewise it has shown a steady proportional drop in both membership and

church attendance Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church require church attendance on the Lord's Day (Sunday); the Westminster Confession of Faith is held by the Reformed ...

with until recently the majority of white South Africans attending regular church services.

Notable White South Africans

Science and technology

Christiaan Barnard Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8 November 1922 – 2 September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation. On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of accident-v ...

, surgeon who performed first successful human heart transplant *

Mike Botha Mike Botha is a master diamond cutter, with more than five decades in the profession. His training and subsequent career began in South Africa and has led him to Mauritius, Russia and Canada and from Vancouver to the Northwest Territories and Saskat ...

, diamond cutter and educator; Yves Landry Award for Outstanding Innovation in Education, Canada *

Peter Sarnak Peter Clive Sarnak (born 18 December 1953) is a South African-born mathematician with dual South-African and American nationalities. Sarnak has been a member of the permanent faculty of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced St ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

's Eugene Higgins professor of mathematics, specialising in

number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said, "Mat ...

Stanley Skewes Stanley Skewes (; 1899–1988) was a South African mathematician, best known for his discovery of the Skewes's number in 1933. He was one of John Edensor Littlewood's students at Cambridge University. Skewes's numbers contributed to the refine ...

, mathematician whose work in number theory produced the record breaking Skewes number *

Percy Deift Percy Alec Deift (born September 10, 1945) is a mathematician known for his work on spectral theory, integrable systems, random matrix theory and Riemann–Hilbert problems. Life Deift was born in Durban, South Africa, where he obtained degrees ...

, mathematician specialising in analysis *

Sydney Brenner Sydney Brenner (13 January 1927 – 5 April 2019) was a South African biologist. In 2002, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with H. Robert Horvitz and Sir John E. Sulston. Brenner made significant contributions to work ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

; Nobel Prize, Physiology/Medicine 2002 *

Michael Levitt Michael Levitt, ( he, מיכאל לויט; born 9 May 1947) is a South African-born biophysicist and a professor of structural biology at Stanford University, a position he has held since 1987. Levitt received the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistr ...

biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

; Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2013 *

Allan McLeod Cormack Allan MacLeod Cormack (February 23, 1924 – May 7, 1998) was a South African American physicist who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with Godfrey Hounsfield) for his work on X-ray computed tomography (CT). Early life ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

; Nobel Prize, Medicine 1979 *

Gordon Murray Ian Gordon Murray (born 18 June 1946 in Durban, Union of South Africa), is a South African-born British designer of Formula One racing cars and the McLaren F1 road car. He is the founder and CEO of Gordon Murray Automotive. Early life Born t ...

, designer of Formula One race cars, including the Championship winning

McLaren MP4/4 The McLaren MP4/4, also known as the McLaren-Honda MP4/4, is one of the most successful Formula One car designs of all time. Powered by Honda's RA168E 1.5-litre V6-turbo engine and driven by teammates Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the car comp ...

and the ultra-exclusive

McLaren F1 The McLaren F1 is a sports car designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Cars, and powered by the BMW S70/2 V12 engine. The original concept was conceived by Gordon Murray. Murray was able to convince Ron Dennis to ...

Roadcar *

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The ...

, entrepreneur and engineer: SpaceX,

Tesla Motors Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and trucks), battery energy storage from home to grid- ...

, and

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

; wealthiest person in the world as of August 2022 *

Basil Schonland Sir Basil Ferdinand Jamieson Schonland OMG CBE FRS (2 February 1896 – 24 November 1972) was noted for his research on lightning, his involvement in the development of radar during World War II and for being the first president of the South ...

, physicist *

Mark Shuttleworth Mark Richard Shuttleworth (born 18 September 1973) is a South African and British entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Canonical, the company behind the development of the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system. In 2002, Shuttleworth became ...

, founder of

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All ...

, a

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

based computer

Operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

; first African in

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

Neil Turok Neil Geoffrey Turok (born 16 November 1958) is a South African physicist. He holds the Higgs Chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh since 2020, and has been director emeritus of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physi ...

cosmologist Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

George F. R. Ellis George Francis Rayner Ellis, FRS, Hon. FRSSAf (born 11 August 1939), is the emeritus distinguished professor of complex systems in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He co-auth ...

, cosmologist *

Max Theiler Max Theiler (30 January 1899 – 11 August 1972) was a South African-American virologist and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for developing a vaccine against yellow fever in 1937, becoming the first ...

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, thei ...

; Nobel Prize, Medicine 1951 *

Phillip Tobias Phillip Vallentine Tobias (14 October 1925 – 7 June 2012) was a South African palaeoanthropologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He was best known for his work at South Africa's hominid fossil ...

, Paleoanthropology, palaeo-anthropologist *Seymour Papert, pioneer of artificial intelligence

Military

* Flight Lieutenant Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor Victoria Cross, VC, Distinguished Service Order, DSO, Military Cross, MC and Medal bar, bar, Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom), DFC Flying ace, fighter ace, World War I, 1st World War * Major William Bloomfield VC, East African campaign (World War I), South African East African campaign, 1st World War * Captain William Faulds VC MC, Delville Wood, 1st World War * Major John Frost (SAAF officer), John Frost DFC (UK), DFC, South African Air Force fighter ace during the Second World War * Lieutenant Colonel Reginald Frederick Johnson Hayward VC, Western Front (World War I), Western Front, 1st World War * Captain Petrus Hugo DSO DFC, fighter ace, Second World War * Squadron Leader Albert Gerald Lewis DFC, South African fighter ace, 2nd World War * Adolph Malan, Adolph "Sailor" Malan, Second World War ace fighter pilot * Squadron Leader John Dering Nettleton VC, Battle of Britain * Major Oswald Reid VC, 1st World War * Captain Clement Robertson VC, Western Front * Lieutenant Colonel John Sherwood-Kelly VC CMG DSO, Second Boer War, Bambatha Rebellion, 1st World War * Captain Quentin Smythe VC, North African campaign, North Africa 2nd World War * Major Edwin Swales Victoria Cross, VC DFC (UK), DFC, pilot during the Second World War * Lieutenant Kevin Winterbottom Honoris Crux (1975), HC, South African Air Force * Staff Sergeant Danny Roxo HC, 32 Battalion (South Africa), 32 Battalion, South African Army * General Constand Viljoen Star of South Africa (1952), SSA Southern Cross Decoration, SD South African Police Star for Outstanding Service, SOE Southern Cross Medal (1952), SM Military Merit Medal (South Africa), MMM MP, former List of South African military chiefs, South African military chief and former leader of the Freedom Front Plus *Air Vice Marshal John Howe (RAF officer), John Frederick George Howe, CB, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Air Force Cross (United Kingdom), AFC (26 March 1930 – 27 January 2016)

Royalty and aristocracy

* Charlene, Princess of Monaco * Bruce Murray, 12th Duke of Atholl

Arts and media

* Jani Allan, columnist and radio commentator * Melinda Bam, Miss South Africa 2011 * Joyce Barker, opera singer - soprano * David Benatar, philosopher, academic and author * Carl Beukes, actor * David Bateson, voice actor in the ''Hitman (franchise), Hitman'' video game series * Bok van Blerk, singer * Neill Blomkamp, director * Herman Charles Bosman, writer * Johan Botha (tenor), Johan Botha, opera singer - tenor * Breyten Breytenbach, writer and painter * Andre Brink, novelist * Johnny Clegg, musician noted for performing in Juluka and Savuka * Penelope Coelen, Miss World 1958 * Mimi Coertse, soprano - opera singer * J. M. Coetzee, novelist; Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize, Literature 2003 * Megan Coleman, Miss South Africa 2006 * Elizabeth Connell, opera singer - mezzo soprano, soprano * Sharlto Copley, actor * John Cranko, ballet dancer and choreographer * Robyn Curnow, CNN International's anchor * Riaan Cruywagen, South African International News anchor, TV presenter and voice artist * Frederick Dalberg, opera singer - bass * Embeth Davidtz, actress, South African Americans, South African-American, born to South African parents in Indiana * Kurt Darren, singer * Theuns Jordaan, South African singer * Izak Davel, actor, dancer, singer and model * André Lötter, actor, emcee/ anchor & speaker * Die Antwoord, band; Hip house, rap-rave group formed in Cape Town * Collette Dinnigan, South African born fashion designer. * Kim Engelbrecht, actress * Elisabeth Eybers, poet * Duncan Faure, singer-songwriter and musician * Nicole Flint, Miss South Africa 2008 * Athol Fugard, playwright * Edwin Gagiano, South African-born actor, model, filmmaker, singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. * Dean Geyer, actor and singer * Goldfish (band), Goldfish, electronic duo originating from Cape Town. * Nadine Gordimer, writer; Nobel Prize, Literature 1991 * Stefans Grové, composer and writer * Cariba Heine, actress * Snotkop, François Henning, singer * Sonja Herholdt, recording artist * Jacques Imbrailo, opera singer - baritone * Sid James, actor, ''Carry On (film series), Carry On'' List of Carry On films cast members, team * Trevor Jones (composer), Trevor Jones, composer * Ingrid Jonker, poet * John Joubert (composer), John Joubert, composer * Peter Klatzow, composer * Gé Korsten, opera singer - tenor, actor * Alice Krige, actress * Antjie Krog, writer * Kongos (band), Kongos; Band (rock and pop), rock band * Caspar Lee, YouTuber, actor * Josh Pieters, Youtuber * Locnville, electro hop music duo * Lara Logan, journalist and war correspondent * Eugène Marais, Eugène Nielen Marais, poet, writer, lawyer and naturalist * Monica Mason, ballet dancer and director of the The Royal Ballet, Royal Ballet * Dalene Matthee, writer * Dave Matthews, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter * Deon Meyer, writer * Shaun Morgan, singer and guitarist for the rock band Seether * Marita Napier, opera singer - soprano * Anton Nel, pianist * Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, Miss Universe 2017 * The Parlotones, indie rock band from Johannesburg * Alan Paton, writer * Graham Payn, actor, singer * Madelaine Petsch, actress, model, YouTuber * Sasha Pieterse, actress in the hit American Broadcasting Company, ABC family series ''Pretty Little Liars'' * Brendan Peyper, singer * Tanit Phoenix, actress, fashion model * Hubert du Plessis, composer * William Plomer, novelist, poet and literary editor *Sir Laurens van der Post, controversial author, Conservation movement, conservationist, explorer, journalist and confidant to Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, The Prince of Wales * Behati Prinsloo, Supermodel, model * Trevor Rabin, musician and composer, member of the rock band Yes (band), Yes * Basil Rathbone, actor * J. R. Rotem, productor, songwriter and music publisher * Neil Sandilands, actor, director and cinematographer * Stelio Savante American Movie Award-winning and Screen Actors Guild Award, SAG-nominated actor * Olive Schreiner, South African writer, remembered for her novel ''The Story of an African Farm'' (1883). * Leon Schuster, comedian, filmmaker, actor, presenter and singer * Sir Antony Sher, actor * Troye Sivan, YouTuber, singer (half Australian) * Cliff Simon, actor and athlete * Phyllis Spira, ballerina, Prima Ballerina Assoluta * Winston Sterzel, YouTuber, first China vlogger and cofounder of ADVChina * Gerhard Steyn, singer * Miriam Stockley, singer * Rolene Strauss, Miss World 2014 * Tammin Sursok, actress, born in South Africa, but raised in Australia * Candice Swanepoel, Supermodel, model. * Esta TerBlanche, actress and model * Charlize Theron, Academy Awards, Academy Award-winning actor * ZP Theart, former singer for the British power metal band DragonForce, former singer for the American rock band Skid Row (American band), Skid Row and singer for the British heavy metal band I Am I (band), I Am I * Elize du Toit, actress * Totius (poet), Jakob Daniël du Toit, poet * Pieter-Dirk Uys, performer and List of satirists and satires, satirist, creator of ''Evita Bezuidenhout'' * Musetta Vander, actress * Kevin Volans, composer and pianist * Arnold Vosloo, actor * Casper de Vries, comedian * Justine Waddell, actress * Deon van der Walt, opera singer - tenor * Kyle Watson (musician), Kyle Watson, record producer and DJ. * Amira Willighagen, soprano and philanthropist * Arnold van Wyk, composer * N. P. van Wyk Louw, poet * St. Lucia (musician), Jean-Philip Grobler, South African-born musician and singer from a New York-based Indie electronic, Indietronica band St. Lucia (musician).

Business

* Etienne de Villiers, investor; media and sports executive * Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore Xstrata, one of the world's largest Commodity market, commodity trading and List of mining companies, mining companies * Sol Kerzner, accountant and business magnate mainly in the Casino hotel, casino resort sector * Harry Oppenheimer, chairman of Anglo American Corporation for 25 years and De Beers Consolidated Mines for 27 years * Nicky Oppenheimer, chairman of the De Beers diamond mining company and its subsidiary, the Diamond Trading Company * Anton Rupert, founder of the Rembrandt Group * Johann Rupert, chairman of the Swiss-based Luxury goods, luxury-goods company Richemont and South Africa-based company Remgro * Desmond Sacco, Chairman and managing director of Assore Limited * Christo Wiese, consumer Retail business magnate

Politics

* Louis Botha, farmer, soldier, statesman; first Prime Minister of South Africa * P. W. Botha, former State President of South Africa * F. W. de Klerk, former State President of South Africa * Marike de Klerk, former First Lady of South Africa, murdered in her home in 2001 * Patrick Duncan (South African politician), Sir Patrick Duncan Governor-General of South Africa, Governor-General at the start of the Second World War * Ruth First, anti-apartheid activist and scholar * Sir James Percy FitzPatrick, author, politician and businessman * Derek Hanekom, Deputy Minister of Technology; prominent African National Congress, ANC member of Parliament * Nicholas Haysom, Former legal adviser to Nelson Mandela, former United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan *Geordin Hill-Lewis, Mayor of Cape Town *Sandra Laing, white girl reclassified as "Coloured" during the apartheid era * D. F. Malan, former Prime Minister of South Africa * Pieter Mulder, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries; leader of the Freedom Front Plus * Andries Pretorius, former leader of the Voortrekkers who was instrumental in the creation of the South African Republic * Harry Schwarz, lawyer, politician, diplomat and anti-apartheid leader * Joe Slovo, former leader of the South African Communist Party played key part in Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa, constitutional negotiations in the 1990s * Field Marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Jan Smuts, soldier, politician and former Prime Minister of South Africa during both World war, World Wars. Only person to sign both world War peace treaties on the winning side. * Jan Steytler, first leader of Progressive Party (South Africa), Progressive Party of South Africa, former MP * Helen Suzman, Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and Parliament of South Africa, former MP, solo anti-apartheid parliamentarian from 1961 to 1974 representing Progressive Party (South Africa), served on first Independent Electoral Commission (South Africa), Independent Electoral Commission supervising first non-racial national elections in South Africa * Colin Eglin, former leader of the Progressive Party (South Africa) and its successors and former MP, played key role in building up parliamentary opposition to apartheid in the 1970s and 1980s, and in constitutional negotiations in the 1990s * Zach de Beer, former Progressive Party (South Africa) MP, subsequent leader of Democratic Party (South Africa, 1973), Democratic Party and post-apartheid ambassador to The Netherlands, also played key part in constitutional negotiations in the 1990s * Rick Crouch, City Councillor in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality * Eugène Terre'Blanche, former leader of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging; murdered * Marthinus van Schalkwyk, previous Minister of Tourism and ANC member of Parliament; played a key role in merging the National Party (South Africa), National Party into the ANC * Hendrik Verwoerd, former Prime Minister of South Africa; primary architect of Apartheid; assassinated in Cape Town, in the House of Assembly of South Africa, House of Assembly * Helen Zille, former leader of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa), Democratic Alliance and Premier of the Western Cape

Sport

* Andrew Surman * Willem Alberts, professional rugby player * Kevin Anderson (tennis), Kevin Anderson, professional tennis player * Clive Barker (soccer), Clive Barker, former footballer and football coach, led the South Africa national football team to victory in the 1996 African Cup of Nations * Matthew Booth (soccer), Matthew Booth, former footballer * Francois Botha, Professional boxing, professional boxer * Michael Botha, professional rugby player * Mark Boucher, former professional cricketer * Vincent Breet, rower * Okkert Brits, former pole vaulter, holds the African record and only African in the "6 metres club" * Schalk Brits, professional rugby player * Zola Budd, former track and field runner, broke the world record in the women's 5000 metres, 5000 m twice in under three years * Schalk Burger, former professional rugby player * Jan-Henning Campher, rugby player * Bradley Carnell, former footballer * Gerrie Coetzee, former boxer, first boxer from Africa to win a World heavyweight titles, world heavyweight title * Tony Coyle, former footballer * Hansie Cronje, professional cricketer * Lood de Jager, professional rugby player * Faf de Klerk, professional rugby player * Quinton de Kock, professional cricketer * Roger De Sá, former footballer * AB de Villiers, professional batsman * Giniel de Villiers, Auto racing, racing driver and winner of the 2009 Dakar Rally * Jean de Villiers, former professional rugby player * Allan Donald, professional cricketer * Faf du Plessis, professional cricketer * Natalie du Toit, paralympian swimmer * Pieter-Steph du Toit, professional rugby player * Thomas du Toit, professional rugby player * Ernie Els, professional golfer, former Official World Golf Rankings#Number 1 ranked golfers, World No. 1 and winner of four Men's major golf championships, Majors * Eben Etzebeth, professional rugby player * Brett Evans, former footballer and current football coach * Paul Evans (footballer, born 1973), Paul Evans, former footballer * Rowen Fernández, former footballer * Lyndon Ferns, former swimmer and Olympic gold medal, gold medallist in the 4 × 100 metres relay, 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics * Wayne Ferreira, former tennis player * Mark Fish, former footballer * Dean Furman, footballer, captain of South African team * Retief Goosen, professional golfer, twice U.S. Open (golf), US Open champion * Penelope Heyns, Penny Heyns, former swimmer, the only woman in the history of the Olympic Games to have won both the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events, at the 1996 Summer Olympics * Pierre Issa, former footballer * Liam Jordan, footballer * Steven Kitshoff, professional rugby player * Vincent Koch, professional rugby player * Johan Kriek, former professional tennis player and winner of the 1981 Australian Open * Jesse Kriel, professional rugby player * Patrick Lambie, former professional rugby player * Grant Langston (motorcyclist), Grant Langston, former professional motocross rider who competed in Europe and the US * Chad le Clos, swimmer and gold medalist in the 200m Butterfly stroke, butterfly at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London * Adam Rose, Raymond Leppan, Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, formerly signed with World Wrestling Entertainment performing under the name "Adam Rose" * Paul Lloyd Jr., professional wrestler, formerly signed with World Wrestling Entertainment where he performed under the name Justin Gabriel * Francois Louw, professional rugby player * Calvin Marlin, former footballer * Malcolm Marx, professional rugby player * Victor Matfield, former professional rugby player * Hank McGregor, Surf ski, surf skier and kayak marathon champion * Elana Meyer, former Long-distance running, long-distance runner, set 15 km road running and half marathon African records * Percy Montgomery, former rugby union player and current record holder for both cap (sport), caps and points for the South Africa national rugby union team, Springboks * Albie Morkel, cricketer * Morne Morkel, cricketer * Franco Mostert, professional rugby player * Karen Muir, former swimmer * Franco Naudé, professional rugby player * Ryk Neethling, former swimmer and gold medallist in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics * Ricardo Nunes, footballer * Louis Oosthuizen, professional golfer, winner of 2010 Open Championship * François Pienaar, former captain of the South Africa national rugby union team, Springboks, leading South Africa to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup * Kevin Pietersen, former England international cricketer * Gary Player, professional golfer * Oscar Pistorius, former Paralympic Games, paralympic athlete; convicted of the murder of his girlfriend * Handré Pollard, professional rugby player * Jacques Potgieter, former professional rugby player * Gary Player, former professional golfer, widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf * André Pretorius, former rugby player * Cobus Reinach, professional rugby player * Jonty Rhodes, professional cricketer * Glen Salmon, former footballer * Corrie Sanders, in 2003 became the World Boxing Organization, WBO heavyweight champion; murdered in 2012 * Jody Scheckter, former Formula One auto-racer and winner of 1979 Formula One season * Louis Schreuder, professional rugby player * Roland Schoeman, swimmer and gold medallist in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics * Charl Schwartzel, professional golfer and winner of the 2011 Masters Tournament * Dillon Sheppard, former footballer * Jan Serfontein, professional rugby player * Dillon Sheppard, former footballer * John Smit, former captain of the South Africa national rugby union team, Springboks, leading South Africa to victory in the 2007 Rugby World Cup * Graeme Smith, former captain of the South Africa national cricket team, Proteas * Kwagga Smith, professional rugby player * R.G. Snyman, professional rugby player * Dale Steyn, cricket pace bowler * Carla Swart, collegiate cyclist, won nineteen individual and team cycling titles * Eric Tinkler, former footballer * Neil Tovey, former captain of the South Africa national football team, leading the team to victory in the 1996 African Cup of Nations * Darian Townsend, swimmer and gold medallist in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics * Andrew Tucker (footballer), Andrew Tucker, former footballer * Hans Vonk (footballer), Hans Vonk, former footballer, South Africa national football team, South Africa's first choice goalkeeper during 1998 Fifa World Cup * Cameron van der Burgh, swimmer who represented South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics and at the 2012 Summer Olympics winning gold at the 100-meter breaststroke in a new world record * Rassie van der Dussen, professional cricketer * Janine van Wyk, footballer and captain of South Africa women's national football team * Duane Vermeulen, professional rugby player * Douglas Whyte, horse racing jockey, 13-time Hong Kong champion jockey * Ivan Winstanley, former footballer * Neil Winstanley, former footballer

Other

* Mariette Bosch, murderer executed by the Politics of Botswana, government of Botswana in 2001 for the murder of South African Ria Wolmarans * Henri van Breda, murderer who killed his parents and brother in January 2015

References

{{authority control White South African people, European South African, South African people of European descent, European diaspora in Africa, South Africa Ethnic groups in South Africa

History

Apartheid era

Post-apartheid era

Diaspora and emigration

Current trends

Demographics

Religion

Migrations

Distribution

Politics

Statistics

Historical population

Fertility rates

Life expectancy

Unemployment

Income

Percentage of workforce

Languages

Religion

Notable White South Africans

Science and technology

Military

Royalty and aristocracy

Arts and media

Business

Politics

Sport

Other

See also

References