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SA will have one public holiday fewer next year. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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The next public holiday in South Africa is THIS WEEK

South Africa will have a total of 14 public holidays in 2023 – with the next one coming in the month of August.

07-08-23 20:12
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SA will have one public holiday fewer next year. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Public Holidays Act (Act No 36 of 1994) determines that whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the Monday following it shall be a public holiday.

South Africa will have 14 public holidays in 2023 – which includes an additional two days off to celebrate public holidays which fall on Sundays.

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However, South Africans will ‘lose’ one public holiday this year as the Day of Reconciliation falls on Saturday, 16 December.

Eight of those 14 holidays have now passed, with the most recent one – Youth Day – falling on Friday, 16 June.

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The others were: New Year’s day (Sunday, 1 January) and the first of those ‘extra’ days, Monday, 2 January, to observe New Year’s day.

Human Rights Day on Tuesday, 21 March was the third of the year, while the Easter weekend saw the fourth and fifth public holidays of the year, namely Good Friday and Easter Monday (Family Day).

The next public holiday was Thursday, 27 April which was Freedom Day and shortly thereafter it was Workers’ Day on Monday, 1 May.

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The next public holiday is on Wednesday, 9 August which is Women’s Day.

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PUBLIC HOLIDAYS IN 2023:

  • Sunday, 1 January: New Year’s Day
  • Monday, 2 January: Public holiday New Year’s Day observed 
  • Tuesday, 21 March: Human Rights Day
  • Friday, 7 April: Good Friday
  • Monday, 10 April: Family Day
  • Thursday, 27 April: Freedom Day
  • Monday, 1 May: Workers’ Day
  • Friday, 16 June: Youth Day
  • Wednesday, 9 August: National Women’s Day
  • Sunday, 24 September: Heritage Day
  • Monday, 25 September: Public holiday Heritage Day observed 
  • Saturday, 16 December: Day of Reconciliation
  • Monday, 25 December: Christmas Day
  • Tuesday, 26 December: Day of Goodwill

In a typical year, South Africa has 12 public holidays, which is roughly the average when compared to other countries.

The global average for public holidays is 11 days.

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Workers in most European countries enjoy 10-14 public holidays a year. The United Kingdom, however, has only eight.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Myanmar has 30 public holidays, while Sri Lanka, Iran, India, and China have 29, 27, 21, and 17, respectively.

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