page_title: White South Africans
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: White South Africans / Politics
caption_attribution_description: Afrikaans: Jan van Riebeeck land in Tafelbaai in April 1652.English: Jan van Riebeeck arrives in Table Bay in April 1652.Русский: Прибытие Яна ван Рибека в Столовую бухту в апреле 1652 года.Українська: Шарль Девідсон Белл. Прибуття Яна ван Рібека у Столову бухту у квітні 1652.
context_page_description: White South Africans are South Africans of European descent. In linguistic, cultural and historical terms, they are generally divided into the Afrikaans-speaking descendants of the Dutch East India Company's original settlers, known as Afrikaners, and the Anglophone descendants of predominantly British colonists. In 2016, 57.9% were native Afrikaans speakers, 40.2% were native English speakers, and 1.9% spoke another language as their mother tongue, such as Portuguese or German. White South Africans are by far the largest European-descended population group in Africa.
  White South Africans differ significantly from other White African groups, because they can trace their ancestry back to the mid 17th century and have developed a separate cultural identity, as in the case of the Afrikaners, who established a distinct language, culture and faith.
context_section_description: White South Africans continue to participate in politics, having a presence across the whole political spectrum from left to right.
  South African President Jacob Zuma commented in 2009 on Afrikaners being "the only white tribe in a black continent or outside of Europe 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 against Zuma. 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 stated in one of his speeches to the nation that: "South Africa belongs to everyone who lives in it. Black and White." The history of white people in South Africa dates back to the sixteenth century.
  Prior to 1994, a white minority held complete political power under a system of racial segregation called apartheid. Some white people supported this policy, but some others opposed it. During apartheid, immigrants from Taiwan, South Korea, 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 were granted an 'honorary white' status as well.
caption: Romanticised painting of an account of the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck, founder of Cape Town.
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