First Gurudwara to be built in Johannesburg

City of Johannesburg on 1 May 2014 agreed to allow construction of a place of worship in form of a full-fledged Gurudwara in the city. With this agreement, this Gurudwara will be the first one in Johannesburg.

The Gurudwara will be constructed on a land that was donated by African-born Sikh businessman Harbinder Singh Sethi.

This decision was made following an eight-year long battle with mainly white South African residents of an upmarket suburb. Due to the demand and battle, the Gurudwara was run on a temporary basis so far. Till date the Parkmore Residents Association had objection on development of the Gurudwara in the city.  They alleged that initially Sethi initially claimed that he would build a house on the land but later tried to use it for temple facilities.

With this agreement of the city, the construction of the 15-million-rand Gurudwara Sahib would start within next two months.

Background
This process of refrain has been in existence in many areas of South Africa since a long time that was formerly reserved by the white community only. After the first democratic elections in 1994, Indian South Africans started moving into these areas and had attempted to build mosques and temples there.