The new BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Tzaneen, in the Limpopo province of South Africa, was inaugurated by Pujya Ghanshyamcharan Swami during the two-day Mandir Mahotsav celebrations on 14 and 15 April 2012.
In the early morning of 14 April a Vishwashanti Yagna was performed. At noon, the murtis to be consecrated in the Mandir were taken around the town in a festive Nagar Yatra. In the evening, the sadhus and youths presented a kirtan aradhana at the Unicorn School Hall.
On the morning of Sunday 15 April, the sacred murtis of Shri Akshar-Purushottam Maharaj, Guru Parampara, Radha-Krishna Dev, Sita-Ram Dev, Ganpatiji & Hanumanji, which had previously been sanctified by Pramukh Swami Maharaj in India, were installed in the new Mandir with Vedic rites by Ghanshyamcharan Swami.
During the murti-pratishtha assembly, Ghanshyamcharan Swami emphasized the importance of mandirs in the community, and how they help to reinforce moral teachings and preserve spiritual values.
About 500 devotees from BAPS centers in South Africa, including Johannesburg, Lenasia, Rustenburg, Pretoria, Durban, Pietersburg and Louis Trichardt, as well as from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania attended this historic and auspicious occasion.