Site Map

Contact

Search

Home

South Africa

Home
Q++ Studio
World Holidays

Downloads
References

About Us
Subscribe
Site Map
Contact
Search
News
Blog
FAQ

Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for South Africa

The list of South Africa bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

 © 1989-2008 Alter Ego Services

24 Jun 2008 (AFP) Earlier today, Government spokesman, Themba Maseko, announced that the national day of mourning scheduled for today, had been postponed. • 14 Jun 2008 (SABC-South African Broadcasting Corporation) The South African government has declared June 24, 2008, as the national day of mourning for the victims of the recent xenophobic violence, but has specified that that day would not be a public holiday. • 19 Apr 2008 (The Daily News-Johannesburg) The education department is proposing a five-week school break (June 10 to July 12, 2010) during the 2010 Soccer World Cup to avoid pupil and teacher absenteeism and a chaotic transport system. • 18 Mar 2008 (Eyewitness News-Johannesburg) South African President, Thabo Mbeki, will declare Friday May 2, 2008, a one-off bridge public holiday, to compensate for the fact that the 2 public holidays of Human Rights Day and Good Friday occur on the same day, March 21, in 2008. • 11 Mar 2008 (The Times of South Africa) the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) asked South African President, Thabo Mbeki, to make Thursday, March 20, 2008, a one-off public holiday. • 30 Mar 2007 (IOL-Independent Online) The ANC, South Africa's ruling party, in preparation for its June policy conference, is considering the addition of public holidays for each of the following religions: Hindu, Muslim and Jewish. • 02 Feb 2007 (On-Site Reporting) As of today, there have been no reports of any official public holiday mourning the passing away, on January 31st, of Adelaide Tambo, the widow of African National Congress' anti-apartheid movement hero, Oliver Tambo (after whom the Johannesburg airport was recently renamed). • 24 Feb 2004 (South African Government Information Sevices) Wednesday, April 14, 2004, has been declared a one-off public holiday, as per the Gazette 26075 / Regulation Gazette 7898 of February 19, 2004. • 12 Feb 2004 (Xinhua) South African presidential spokesman, Bheki Khumalo, has confirmed that the President, Thabo Mbeki, intends to declare election day on April 14 as a one-off public holiday, but that this may take some time as it must go through parliamentary channels, • 28 Apr 1999 (Xinhua) South Africa's cabinet has decided that this year's election day, June 2, would be a nationwide public holiday. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the South Africa public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: The law governing the official public holidays in South Africa is section 2A of the Public Holidays Act, 1994 (No. 36 of 1994) of November 23, 1994, as amended by the Public Holidays Amendment Act, 1995 No. 48 of September 28, 1995. The 1994 Act, which came into effect on January 1, 1995, repealed and replaced the Act No. 5 of 1952 (Public Holidays Act, 1952) as well as amendments to the 1952 act from 1956, 1961, 1973, 1980, 1983, and public holidays acts specific to the then-named "republics"; Transkei (1976), Bophuthatswana (1978 and 1979), Venda (1980 and 1982) and Ciskei (1981). • Since 1994, December 16 is a public holiday known as the Day of Reconciliation intended to foster reconciliation between different racial groups (before 1994, that date was commemorated as the Day of the Vow - which was a religious holiday commemorating the Afrikaner victory over the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838). • Three other holidays were abandoned, at the time of the transition to majority rule, in 1994: Republic Day on May 31, Settlers' Day on October 20, and Ascension Day. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: South African Reserve Bank (South Africa central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in South Africa, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for South Africa, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of South Africa, before planning any trip to South Africa. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.