Most Indian South Africans live in KwaZulu-Natal, particularly in the cities of Durban, Pietermaritzburg and their surrounding areas.
The smaller Chinese community was initially descended from migrant workers who came to work in the gold mines around Johannesburg in the late nineteenth century.
Based on the earlier status of Chinese as indentured labourers, the government classified immigrants from Mainland China as "non-white", in particular as coloureds,[9] and therefore subject to numerous restrictions in residence, voting, education, work, free movement, etc.
In addition, the status of Japanese and South Koreans as honorary whites under apartheid complicated the case.
Nonetheless, in June 2008, Chinese South Africans were fully recognised as having been disadvantaged and entered the BEE ethnic groups if they arrived before 1994.
A substantial number of Pakistanis, most of them belonging to the Muhajir community of Karachi, moved to South Africa in the early 1990s.
In 1913, Moses Gadur sued the government after being denied the right to purchase land in Johannesburg on the basis of being considered non-white.
Moses Gandur's lawyers successfully argued that Jewish immigrants, who were part of the same Semitic race, were not considered "Asian" the same way other people from the Levant were.