Announcement of the Cape Town South Africa Temple
On April 4, 2021, President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Cape Town, South Africa, during April 2021 general conference. At the time of this announcement, around 69,000 Latter-day Saints in 195 congregations lived in the nation.
South Africa first received the restored gospel when President Brigham Young, the second President of the Church of Jesus Christ, called three missionaries to preach in the Cape of Good Hope in 1852. The Cape of Good Hope is located around 29 miles (33.8 kilometers) from the Cape Town temple site.
The first two branches in Africa were organized within six miles of Cape Town. Today, the city resides in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple district, meaning Saints from Cape Town have had to travel around 15 hours by car to attend a house of the Lord.
Timeline of the Cape Town South Africa Temple
The Cape Town South Africa Temple was announced April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.
Architecture and Design of the Cape Town South Africa Temple
According to plans and exterior renderings, the Cape Town temple will be a single-story building of approximately 9,500 square feet. Around the temple’s white exterior will be rectangular windows with brown frames and an arched entryway in front of the temple’s main doors. On top of the structure will be a multilevel tower with four rectangular windows and four smaller, arched windows around the tower’s four sides.
The edifice will sit on a site of 3.79 acres, with multicolored trees and bushes filling the grounds. A meetinghouse and arrival center will also be built near the temple.