September 15th, 2025, 2:14pm MDT
Just two months after the ground broke due to the first temple of the Republic of Congo, a groundbreaking event occurs in two more houses of the Lord of Africa.
The ground will break due to Kumasi Ghana Temple on October 18th. Elder Isaac K. Morrison – the second counselor of the Church’s Western African presidency – will be hosted. This will be the second temple in the country.
A week later, on October 25th, the ground broke due to the South African Temple of Cape Town, with Carlos A. Godoy (Southern African Region) presided over. This will be the third temple of the country.
These groundbreaking dates were first published in a September 15th news release on churchofjesuschrist.org.
Both houses of the Lord were announced on April 4, 2021 by President Russell M. Nelson of the Church. The locations of the 20 temples he identified in that general conference also included another African temple in Beira, Mozambique.
Church in Ghana
As previously announced, Kumasi Ghana Temple will be a two-storey building, approximately 22,750 square feet. It will be built on the 2.08-acre site at Y11 Suntreso Road in Bantama, Kumasi, adjacent to the existing meeting place. A arrival centre will also be built.
In Ghana there is one operational temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was dedicated in 2004 by President Gordon B. Hinckley, the 15th President of the Church.
In addition to the Kumasi temple, another home in Ghana, announced by President Nelson in 2023, is currently planned for Ghana.
Missionary work began in Ghana in the 1960s after Ghanaians discovered literature on the restored gospel and asked the church to send missionaries. The missionaries first arrived in August 1978, and on July 1, 1980, a mission in western Africa was organized, including Ghana and Nigeria. On April 21, 1991, the first two bets took place in Ghana.
President Hinckley was the first church president to visit West Africa on February 16, 1998, and met a gathering of 6,000 Latter-day Saints. On this visit to Accra, it was this visit that President Hinckley announced that the first temple in West Africa would be built in Ghana.
More than 113,000 Latter-day Saints from over 375 congregations live in Ghana.
South African Church
According to previously announced site plans, Cape Town South African Temple is a single-storey building of about 9,500 square feet, with a chamber and arrival centre. It will be built on the 3.79-acre site at 3 Liesbeek Ave., Cape Town Observatory.
If three South African temples are dedicated or presented, two are run. The first is the Johannesburg South African Temple, dedicated in 1985 by President Hinckley by the second counselor of the first presidency. It was also the first time on the African continent.
The second home of the Lord of the country is the Durban Temple in South Africa dedicated in 2020 by Elder Ronald A. Lasband, a quorum of the 12 apostles.
In 1852, Brigham Young opened a mission to South Africa to preach the restored gospel. They were called to serve at the Cape Town on April 19, 1853, a British colony, Africa.
By the end of 1855, six branches had been established in and around Cape Town.
The Church President David O. McKay arrived in Cape Town on January 9, 1954, the first general authority to visit the African continent on January 9, 1954. Transvaal, the first South African stock, was held in Johannesburg on March 22, 1970.
Today, South Africa has over 74,000 church members in a congregation of nearly 200.
