Singapore–South Africa relations establish diplomatic relations with South Africa until 1992, when the two countries signed agreements to do so. In 1994, South Africa joined the Commonwealth, resulting in the Embassies of both countries being renamed High Commissions and the Ambassadors becoming High Commissioners. On March 5, 1997, Nelson Mandela became the first President of South Africa to visit Singapore, where he met President Ong Teng Cheong and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. In 2007, S.R. Nathan became the first President of Singapore to visit South Africa. In January 2013, International Enterprise Singapore set up a centre in Johannesburg, its first overseas centre
Religion in South Africa owned by European settlers. Many came from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, and some from other states of India. Early Hindu settlements in South Africa suffered discrimination, abuse and persecution. Hindu Indians were among the people who were referred to as coolies, racially segregated, and their discrimination continued through the Apartheid era until 1994. The first Hindu temples were in operation in the 1870s. Some South African local governments banned temple building and property ownership by Hindus in 1910s. Modern South Africa has many Hindu temples, and its Hindu community observes major festivals of Hinduism such as