[Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community in South Africa’]
Cypriots were pioneers in the establishment of the Hellenic communities in South Africa. Therefore, in 1934, they founded the “Cypriot Brotherhood of South Africa” in Johannesburg. Kostas Phitidis was elected as the first President of the organisation with C. Komodikis, E. Papadaniel, D. Georgiadis, P. Heraclides, B. Katsikas and C. Perdikis as members. In the following years, the number of the Cypriots was increased as the Cyprus issue became more intense. The Cypriot Brotherhood donated all its financial assets to the war effort during the Second World War. The Brotherhood mobilised South Africa's Hellenism against the British and Turkish imperialism in the 1950s. The Turkish invasion of 1974 mobilized the Greek Cypriot community which sent thousands of rands to the victims of the Turkish attack. Some of the presidents of the community were K. Phitidis, P. Heraclidis, A. Philipou, S. Titan, Ch. Phitidis, K. Rousos, S. Christidis, P. Nikolaidis, D. Georgiadis, K. Maroutsos, M. Evlabiou, A. Palexas, S. Konstantinou, M. Gialouris, G. Michaelidis, K. Spyridis, S. Selepas, K. Nikolaou, M. Sotiriou, A. Rousos, A. Paschalidis, A. Mougis, P. Philipou, K. Kolatsis.
