South Africa Public Holidays 2027
South Africa has 14 national public holidays in 2027, starting with New Year's Day on 1 January 2027 and ending with Public Holiday on 27 December 2027. Christmas Day lands on a Saturday in 2027, on 25 December 2027, and no substitute weekday is granted for it here, so it costs the calendar a day off compared with a year when it falls midweek.
| Holiday | Date | Weekday | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Human Rights Day | SundayWeekend | Public holiday | |
| Public Holiday | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Good Friday | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Easter MondayFamily Day | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Freedom Day | Tuesday | Public holiday | |
| Workers' Day | SaturdayWeekend | Public holiday | |
| Youth Day | Wednesday | Public holiday | |
| National Women's Day | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Heritage Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Day of Reconciliation | Thursday | Public holiday | |
| Christmas Day | SaturdayWeekend | Public holiday | |
| Day of Goodwill | SundayWeekend | Public holiday | |
| Public Holiday | Monday | Public holiday |
- Status
- Set in lawThe calendar is set in standing law rather than announced year by year, so 2027 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.
March is the densest month for holidays, which tends to shape travel and shopping patterns. Four of them fall on a Saturday or Sunday in 2027, which is worth checking if you are counting on days off from work. The table below lists every South Africa public holiday for 2027 with its exact date and the weekday it falls on, so you can see the long weekends at a glance. Only nationwide public holidays are included here, which keeps the South Africa calendar clean and comparable.
Frequently asked questions
How many public holidays does South Africa have in 2027?
South Africa has 14 national public holidays in 2027. The first is New Year's Day on 1 January 2027 and the last is Public Holiday on 27 December 2027.
What is the first public holiday of 2027 in South Africa?
The first public holiday of 2027 is New Year's Day, which falls on 1 January 2027.
When is New Year celebrated in South Africa in 2027?
In 2027, New Year's Day in South Africa is on 1 January 2027.
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 2027 to the next year?
Some of them do. Four of the 14 holidays in 2027 sit on a moving rule (substitute day and linked to easter), 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 Public Holiday on 22 March 2027, Good Friday on 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday on 29 March 2027, plus 1 more.
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 2027. 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 2027 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 2027 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 2027, alongside how many working days 2027 actually has once weekends and holidays come out. The same figures are available as JSON, and the dates as a calendar file.