Ramaphosa declares 27 December a public holiday

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared Tuesday, 27 December 2022, as a public holiday because of Christmas Day falling on a Sunday.

The Presidency said the decision follows a declaration to this effect by Ramaphosa in terms of Section 2A of the Public Holidays Act (Act No 36 of 1994).

Christmas on Sunday

 “In terms of the 2022 annual calendar, Christmas Day, 25 December, falls on a Sunday. Section 2(1) of the act provides that “whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be a holiday”.

 “In this instance, the Monday following the 25 December 2022 is another holiday, Day of Goodwill,” it said.

If the holiday of Sunday 25 December were to be moved to Monday 26 December, this would cancel the holiday of 26 December or cause the two holidays – which are part of 12 paid holidays annually – to overlap.

ALSO READ: Union asks Ramaphosa for additional public holiday in December

Public holidays

 “This would mean workers would only have 11 paid holidays in this year, while Section 5 of the act provides that “… every employee shall be entitled to … at least the number of public holidays as provided for in this Act,” the Presidency said.

In October, the Federation of Union of South Africa (Fedusa) wrote to Ramaphosa, requesting an additional paid holiday in December 2022.

South Africa currently has a total of 12 paid holidays and since these are not counted as leave, they can be a real bonus, with many people targeting them to make long weekends last even longer.

Public holidays in SA

• 1 January – New Year’s Day
• 21 March – Human Rights Day
• 15 April – Good Friday
• 18 April Family Day (Follows Easter Sunday)
• 27 April – Freedom Day
• 1 May – Workers Day
• 16 June – Youth Day
• 9 August – National Women’s Day
• 24 September – Heritage Day
• 16 December – Day of Reconciliation
• 25 December – Christmas Day an
• 26 December – Day of Goodwill

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