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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for South Africa

The list of South Africa bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2010, 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 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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20 Jan 2010 (Fin24-Johannesburg) South African President, Jacob Zuma, has announced that, February 11, 2010, the date of his upcoming State of the Nation address would not be a public holiday, as had been widely rumoured. • 11 Jan 2010 (The Cape Times-Cape Town) The Eastern Cape secretary to South Africa's ruling ANC party, Oscar Mabunyane, has confirmed that the issue of declaring a January 8, ANC birthday public holiday, would be raised during the party's national general council meeting in September. • 22 Nov 2009 (Press Trust of India-PTI) A coalition of South African Indian cultural, religious and political leaders have asked the government of South Africa to declare a public holiday on November 16, 2010, to mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first indentured labourers from India. • 30 Jun 2009 (The Independent Online-Pretoria) From recent media reports, it would appear that the recently announced, July 18, Nelson Mandela Day, will not be an official public holiday. • 04 Jun 2009 (AfricaNews-Pretoria) In his first State of the Union Address, yesterday, South African President, Jacob Zuma, has announced a new annual national holiday, on July 18, to honor Nelson Mandela. • 30 Apr 2009 (Independent Online-Pretoria) South Africa's labour federation general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, has appealed to the government to pass legislation so that retail workers would not be forced to work on "the most emotional" public holidays such as Freedom Day on April 27, Workers Day on May 1, Youth Day on June 16 and Women's Day on August 9. • 22 Apr 2009 (Pretoria News-Pretoria) South Africa's chief director of communications for the Department of Education, Dr Granville Whittle, has announced that South African schools will enjoy an extended holiday break during the FIFA 2010 World Cup. • 18 Apr 2009 (BuaNews-Johannesburg) South Africa government spokesperson, Themba Maseko, has announced that the upcoming presidential inauguration would be held on May 9th, 2009, for the first time ever on a Saturday. • 19 Mar 2009 (BuaNews-Pretoria) South Africa's President, Kgalema Motlanthe, has declared Wednesday, April 22, 2009, a public holiday to allow South Africans to exercise their democratic right to vote in the General Elections will be held on that day. • 10 Feb 2009 (Bloomberg-NYC) The government of South Africa has announced that the upcoming national elections (presidential and legislative) would be held on Wednesday, April 22, 2009. • 12 Nov 2008 (SA Dept. of Education) In its Gazette 31590, Government Notice 1203, of November 10, 2008, the Department of Education of South Africa has announced the dates of the special one-off bridge holidays for schools, for 2010. • 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. • 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. • South Africa International Codes ZA and ZAF (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .za (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of South Africa information and news: 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 (South Africa maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in South Africa), and Wikipedia (includes South Africa commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

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 2010 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.