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Cape Malays

Cape Malays (Afrikaans: Kaapse Maleiers, کاپز ملیس in Arabic script) also known as Cape Muslims or Malays, are a Muslim community or ethnic group in South Africa. They are the descendants of enslaved and free Muslims from different parts of the world, specifically Indonesia (at that time known as the Dutch East Indies) and other Asian countries, who lived at the Cape during Dutch and British rule.

Although the initial members of the community were from the Dutch colonies of Southeast Asia, by the 1800s the term Malay encompassed all practising Muslims at the Cape, regardless of origin. They initially used Malay as a lingua franca and language of religious instruction, and this was one of the likely reasons that the community were referred to as Malays.


Malays are concentrated in the Cape Town area. Cape Malay cuisine forms a significant part of South African cuisine, and the community played an important part in the history of Islam in South Africa. The community played a part in developing Afrikaans as a written language, initially using an Arabic script.


"Malay" was legally a subcategory of the Coloured racial group during the apartheid era.

Demographics[edit]

It is estimated that there are about 166,000 people in Cape Town who could be described as Cape Malay, and about 10,000 in Johannesburg. The picturesque Malay Quarter of Cape Town is found on Signal Hill, and is called the Bo-Kaap.


Many Cape Malay people also lived in District Six before they, among many other South African people of diverse ethnicity, mainly Cape Coloureds, were forcefully removed from their homes by the apartheid government and redistributed into townships on the Cape Flats.

International relationships[edit]

Connections between Malaysians and South Africans improved when South Africa rejoined the international community. The latter's re-entry was welcomed by the Malaysian government and many others in the Southeast Asian region. Non-governmental organisations, such as the Federation of Malaysia Writers' Associations, have since set on linking up with the diasporic Cape Malay community.[35]


There is also an increase in the interest of the food, culture and heritage of Cape Malay descendants around the world.[36]

Early context for "Cape Malay" community

Official South African history site

Haron, Muhammed (2001).

"Conflict of Identities: The Case of South Africa’s Cape Malays"

and music

Sparse website with some information about Cape Malay musical instruments

(formerly The Robben Island Mazaar (Kramat) Committee")

Cape Mazaar Society