Holidays
South Africa has 12 official public holidays as determined by the Public Holidays Act.
The Public Holidays Act (Act 36 of 1994) also determines that whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday, the Monday following it shall be a public holiday.
Date | Holiday |
Sunday, 1 January | New Year’s Day |
Monday, 2 January | New Year’s Day observed |
Tuesday, 21 March | Human Rights Day |
Friday, 7 April | Good Friday |
Sunday, 9 April | Easter |
Monday, 10 April | Family Day |
Thursday, 27 April | Freedom Day |
Monday, 1 May | Workers’ Day |
Friday, 16 June | Youth Day |
Wednesday, 9 August | Women’s Day |
Sunday, 24 September | Heritage Day |
Monday, 25 September | Heritage Day observed |
Saturday, 16 December | Day of Reconciliation |
Monday, 25 December | Christmas Day |
Tuesday, 26 December | Day of Goodwill |
Date | Holiday |
Sunday, 15 January | Makar Sankranti / Pongal |
Saturday, 18 February | Maha Shivaratri |
22 to 30 March | Ramayana week |
Wednesday, 6 September to Thursday, 7 September |
Sri Krishna Janmashtami |
Sunday, 12 November | Diwali |
Date | Holiday |
Saturday, 18 February | Lailat al Miraj |
Thursday, 23 March | Ramadan (month of fasting begins) |
Tuesday, 18 April | Lailat al Qadr |
Saturday, 22 April | Eid-al-Fitr (End of Ramadan) |
Wednesday, 28 June | Waqf al Arafa – Hajj |
Thursday, 29 June | Eid-al-Adha |
Friday, 28 July | Al-Hijra / Muharram |
Date | Holiday |
Monday, 6 March to Tuesday, 7 March |
Purim |
Wednesday, 5 April to Thursday, 13 April |
Pesach |
Thursday, 25 May to Saturday, 27 May |
Shavuot |
Friday, 15 September to Sunday, 17 September |
Rosh Hashana |
Sunday, 24 September to Monday, 25 September |
Yom Kippur |
Saturday, 30 September to Sunday, 1 October |
Sukkot |
Friday, 6 October to Sunday, 8 October |
Shmini Atzeret & Simchat Torah |
Thursday, 7 December to Friday, 15 December |
Channukah |
Information supplied by the Registrar’s Secretariat
Updated: 4 January 2023