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The Cape Malays of South Africa

The Cape Malays of South Africa, numbering approximately 250,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an indigenous Muslim community of mixed Asian and South African heritage in South Africa. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Afrikaans is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Cape Malay

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Africa
People Cluster: Other Sub-Saharan African
Primary Language(s): Afrikaans (afr)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 250,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG050454
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Pray for the Cape Malays of South Africa

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Afrikaans
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Afrikaans Speakers

Media Resources in Afrikaans:

Films:
Title Link
JESUS View Film
Magdalena View Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Afrikaans:

Bible Name (Translation) Video Audio Text
Die Bybel in Afrikaans 1983-vertaling ✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Afrikaans bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% or Greater but Less than 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Cape Malays:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Cape Malays of South Africa

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
readEphesians 6:12

Pray for those ensnared by the darkness of this world, that they will recognize the spiritual forces at work and turn to the light of Christ.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
readLamentations 3:23-23

Pray that they will have hope in the Lord, knowing that His compassions never fails and that His mercies are new every morning.

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.
readRomans 4:20

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will not waver but will grow strong in their belief, knowing that the Lord rewards those who seek Him.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Cape Malay Across Countries (ROP3 - 114855) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

1 people group

Photo People Group ID Name ▲ Country Population Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Cape Malays PG050454 Cape Malays South Africa 250,000 Unengaged and Unreached Afrikaans Sunni Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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