South Africans are celebrating the festive season with time off with family and friends. Some are looking forward to 2026 and are already planning their next break around the calendar’s various public holidays.
Here’s how to stretch a few off days into a lengthy downtime.
HOW MANY PUBLIC HOLIDAYS ARE THERE IN 2026?
South Africa has 12 official public holidays on its 2026 calendar. However, only 10 will fall on working days.
They are:
- Thursday, 1 January – New Year’s Day
- Saturday, 21 March – Human Rights Day – forfeited due to falling on a Saturday.
- Friday, 3 April – Good Friday
- Monday, 6 April – Easter Monday (Family Day)
- Monday, 27 April – Freedom Day
- Friday, 1 May – Workers’ Day
- Tuesday, 16 June – Youth Day
- Sunday, 9 August – National Women’s Day (observed on Monday)
- Thursday, 24 September – Heritage Day
- Wednesday, 16 December – Day of Reconciliation
- Friday, 25 December – Christmas Day
- Saturday, 26 December – Day of Goodwill – forfeited due to falling on a Saturday.
HOW TO MAXIMISE YOUR LEAVE
Provided you work weekdays, and you get public holidays off, here’s how you can turn the holidays into long weekends…
- January – Take one 1 day off (2 January), get 4 days off (1-4 January), ie, one long weekend
- April – Take 3 days off (28-30 April), get 9 days off (24 April – 3 May), ie, two long weekends
- May – Take 1 day off (4 May) to get 4 days off ( 1 -4 May), ie, one long weekend.
- June – Take 1 day off (15 June) to get 4 days off (13-16 June), ie, one long weekend
- August – Take 1 day off (7 August) to get 4 days off (7-10 August), ie, one long weekend.
- September – Take 1 day off (25 September) to get 4 days off (24- 27 September), ie, one long weekend.
- December – Take 2 days off (17-18 December) to get 5 days off (16-20 December), ie, one long weekend.
- Take 1 day off (28 December) to get 4 days off (25-28 December), ie, one long weekend.