2024 brings two extra public holidays to South Africa

In 2024, South Africa will have 14 public holidays which include an additional day off that falls on a weekend and a day off to vote in the National Elections. 

The official date of the 2024 national election has not been made public yet, historically, the set date for the elections is declared a public holiday by the president to allow all South African Citizens to vote. The last national election was held on 8 May 2019 and it is expected that the 2024 elections will fall take place around the same time.

Youth Day which falls on a Sunday (16 June) will be moved to the following Monday as it is determined by the Public Holidays Act (Act No 36 of 1994) that whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday then the following Monday will be a public holiday. This means that 17 June 2024 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

• 27 April – Freedom Day

• 1 May – Workers’ Day

• May (TBD) – 2024 National Election

• 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

South Africans do not only benefit from additional public holidays, but employers must also ensure that they compensate their workers fairly for their time on public holidays.

Employers must take into account the provisions of the BCEA when determining how much to pay employees who work on a public holiday. Employers must consider whether a public holiday falls on a day on which the employee normally works.

If the public holiday falls on a day on which the employee would normally 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.