The Fo Guang Shan Religious Affairs Committee subsequently sent Venerable Hui Li to be the founding abbot of the temple, whose main aim is to promote Buddhism on the African continent.

Nan Hua Buddhist Temple has opened branches in other South African cities, in Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Newcastle, Durban and Cape Town.

The abbots and abbesses of Nan Hua since its inception have been: On 30 October 2002, the Boeremag, a militant Afrikaner right-wing organisation planted a bomb in the basement of the temple.

At the time a South African Police Service spokesman stated that the blast could have killed and injured dozens of people if the detonator had not failed to set off the explosives.

About 150 devotees from South Africa, Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the United States were attending ceremonies in the main temple at the time and about thirty construction workers were close by as well.