South Africa will have 14 public holidays in 2024, including an additional day off to celebrate a public holiday that fall over a weekend, as well as an anticipated day off to vote in the 2024 national elections.

While the official date of the 2024 national election has not yet been pronounced, historically, the day on which it falls is typically declared a public holiday by the president to give all South Africans the opportunity to vote.

The last national election was held on 8 May 2019. It is anticipated that the 2024 elections will fall around the same window.

The second extra day off will take place on 17 June 2024, to observe Youth Day (16 June) which falls on a Sunday.

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

This means that 17 June is an additional public holiday in terms of the Act.

Here are all the public holidays in 2024, in terms of the Act:

• 1 January – New Year’s Day
• 21 March – Human Rights Day
• 29 March – Good Friday
• 1 April – Family Day
• May (TBD) – 2024 National Election
• 27 April – Freedom Day
• 1 May – Workers’ Day
• 16 June – Youth Day
• 17 June – Public holiday, Youth Day observed
• 9 August – National Women’s Day
• 24 September – Heritage Day
• 16 December – Day of Reconciliation
• 25 December – Christmas Day
• 26 December – Day of Goodwill

Additional public holidays are not only a beneficial day off for South Africans at large, but also hold implications for businesses and employers who need to ensure that workers are fairly compensated for the time they work on those days.

If an employee works on a public holiday – including any additional public holiday that is declared – their employer must consider the provisions of the BCEA when determining the amount to pay them.

In particular, an employer must consider whether the public holiday falls on a day on which the employee would ordinarily work.

If the public holiday falls on a day on which the employee would ordinarily work, and the employee works on that public holiday, then the employee is entitled to double their ordinary wage for the day – or, if greater, the employee’s ordinary wage for the day “plus the amount earned by the employee for the time worked on that day.

However, if the employee does not work on the public holiday, which falls on a day the employee would ordinarily work, the employee is entitled to their ordinary wage for the day.

While South Africa will see 14 public holidays in 2024, employers will also benefit from an ‘extra’ day of work this year – 2024 is a leap year, which means February will have an additional workday on the 29th, which falls on a Thursday.

Read: South Africa can’t afford an extra public holiday, say experts