South Africa Public Holidays 2026
South Africa has 13 national public holidays in 2026, starting with New Year's Day on 1 January 2026 and ending with Day of Goodwill on 26 December 2026. Three well placed days of leave buy 12 days away from work in 2026, because three holidays sit exactly one working day from a weekend.
| Holiday | Date | Weekday | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Thursday | Public holiday | |
| Human Rights Day | SaturdayWeekend | Public holiday | |
| Good Friday | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Easter MondayFamily Day | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Freedom Day | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Workers' Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Youth Day | Tuesday | Public holiday | |
| National Women's Day | SundayWeekend | Public holiday | |
| Public Holiday | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Heritage Day | Thursday | Public holiday | |
| Day of Reconciliation | Wednesday | Public holiday | |
| Christmas Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Day of Goodwill | SaturdayWeekend | Public holiday |
- Status
- Set in lawThe calendar is set in standing law rather than announced year by year, so 2026 needs no separate publication.
- Last verified
- The last full review of the dataset behind the South Africa calendar. No correction specific to South Africa has been needed since.
- Source
- date-holidays open dataset (ISC and CC BY 3.0), with no corrections needed for South Africa.Always confirm official dates with a local authority before booking travel. How these calendars are built. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will check it.
Expect the most closures around April (3 holidays), so schedule deliveries and appointments with that in mind. Three of them fall on a Saturday or Sunday in 2026, which is worth checking if you are counting on days off from work. Below you will find the full 2026 list for South Africa, sorted by date, with the weekday marked for quick planning. We track national holidays only, leaving out regional variations, so the list stays consistent and easy to compare with other countries.
Frequently asked questions
How many public holidays does South Africa have in 2026?
South Africa has 13 national public holidays in 2026. The first is New Year's Day on 1 January 2026 and the last is Day of Goodwill on 26 December 2026.
What is the first public holiday of 2026 in South Africa?
The first public holiday of 2026 is New Year's Day, which falls on 1 January 2026.
When is New Year celebrated in South Africa in 2026?
In 2026, New Year's Day in South Africa is on 1 January 2026.
Are regional holidays included for South Africa?
No. This calendar lists national public holidays only, so it stays consistent across countries. Holidays that apply to just part of South Africa are listed separately on the South Africa holiday hub, together with the regions that observe them.
Do the South Africa holiday dates change from 2026 to the next year?
Some of them do. Three of the 13 holidays in 2026 sit on a moving rule (linked to easter and substitute day), so their date has to be recalculated for every year. The rest keep the same calendar date and only change weekday. Moving ones this year include Good Friday on 3 April 2026, Easter Monday on 6 April 2026 and Public Holiday on 10 August 2026.
How far ahead is the South Africa calendar actually fixed?
Through 2027. The holidays are set in law rather than announced year by year, so the dates repeat predictably. What can still change is a law amendment, a one-off holiday declared for a national event, and the exact day of any holiday on the Islamic calendar, which is confirmed by moon sighting. No corrections to the underlying dataset were needed for South Africa.
Which South Africa holidays are regional, and which move?
The table above is the national calendar for 2026. Some holidays keep the same date every year while others are tied to Easter, to a lunar calendar or to a named weekday, and some parts of the country add their own days off. The South Africa holiday hub breaks that down: which holidays are fixed, which move and why, and which ones are observed in certain regions only. To compare South Africa with other countries in the same year, see the 2026 worldwide overview.
Other years for South Africa
Planning further ahead or looking back? Compare the South Africa public holiday calendar across years:
Plan around the South Africa 2026 calendar
Knowing the dates is half the question. The other half is what they add up to: which of them create a long weekend on their own, and where a single day of leave turns a holiday into a four day break. That is on the South Africa long weekends page for 2026, alongside how many working days 2026 actually has once weekends and holidays come out. The same figures are available as JSON, and the dates as a calendar file.