Just two months after ground was broken for the first temple in Republic of the Congo, groundbreakings for two more houses of the Lord in Africa will take place.
Ground will be broken for the Kumasi Ghana Temple on Oct. 18, with Elder Isaac K. Morrison — second counselor in the Church’s Africa West Area presidency — presiding. This will be the second temple in the country.
One week later, ground will be broken for the Cape Town South Africa Temple on Oct. 25, with Elder Carlos A. Godoy — Africa South Area president — presiding. This will be the third temple in the country.
These groundbreaking dates were first published in a Sept. 15 news release on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Both houses of the Lord were announced on April 4, 2021, by Church President Russell M. Nelson. The 20 temple locations he identified in that general conference also included another Africa temple, for Beira, Mozambique.
The Church in Ghana
As previously announced, the Kumasi Ghana Temple will be a two-story building of approximately 22,750 square feet. It will be built on a 2.08-acre site at Y11 Suntreso Road, Bantama, Kumasi, adjacent to an existing meetinghouse. An arrival center will also be constructed.
Ghana has one operating temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — the Accra Ghana Temple. It was dedicated in 2004 by President Gordon B. Hinckley, 15th President of the Church.
In addition to the Kumasi temple, one other house of the Lord is currently planned for Ghana: the Cape Coast Ghana Temple, announced in 2023 by President Nelson.
Missionary work began in Ghana in the 1960s, after Ghanaians discovered literature about the restored gospel and asked the Church to send missionaries. Missionaries first arrived in August 1978, and the Africa West Mission — which included Ghana and Nigeria — was organized on July 1, 1980. On April 21, 1991, the first two stakes were organized in Ghana.
President Hinckley was the first Church President to visit West Africa, on Feb. 16, 1998, and was met with a gathering of 6,000 Latter-day Saints. It was in this visit to Accra that President Hinckley announced the first temple in West Africa would be built in Ghana.
More than 113,000 Latter-day Saints in over 375 congregations live in Ghana.
The Church in South Africa
According to site plans previously announced, the Cape Town South Africa Temple will be a single-story edifice of approximately 9,500 square feet, with a meetinghouse and arrival center there as well. It will be built on a 3.79-acre site at 3 Liesbeek Ave., Observatory, in Cape Town.
Of South Africa’s three temples dedicated or announced, two are operating. The first is the Johannesburg South Africa Temple, dedicated in 1985 by President Hinckley, then second counselor in the First Presidency. It was also the first on the continent of Africa.
The country’s second house of the Lord is the Durban South Africa Temple, dedicated in 2020 by Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
In 1852, Brigham Young directed three missionaries to open a mission in South Africa and preach the restored gospel. They were called to serve in the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, a British colony, and arrived in Cape Town on April 19, 1853.
By the end of 1855, six branches had been established in and around Cape Town.
Church President David O. McKay arrived in Cape Town on Jan. 9, 1954, the first general authority to visit the African continent. The first stake in South Africa, the Transvaal Stake, was organized on March 22, 1970, in Johannesburg.
Today, South Africa is home to more than 74,000 Church members in nearly 200 congregations.
