South Africa loses one public holiday in 2025

South Africans will lose out on one public holiday in 2025 because National Women’s Day falls on a Saturday, which means that it will not be observed.

South Africa has twelve public holidays, which start with New Year’s Day on 1 January and end with Boxing Day on 26 December.

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act specifies that employers cannot require employees to work on public holidays and must pay their normal wages.

Employees who work on public holidays are entitled to double their ordinary pay, which can be costly for employers.

However, this does not mean employees will enjoy twelve days off work in 2025. This is because of the details stipulated in the Public Holidays Act.

The Act stipulates that whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will also be a public holiday.

However, when a public holiday falls on a Saturday, it will not move to a weekday. Simply put, people will not get a day off work.

National Women’s Day, celebrated on 9 August 2025, falls on a Saturday this year, which means that people will miss out on this public holiday.

The good news is that Freedom Day, celebrated on 27 April and falling on a Sunday in 2025, will still result in a day off work on Monday, 28 April.

So, in 2025, South Africans will have eleven days off work because of public holidays, losing out on one day because of the Public Holidays Act.

Despite only enjoying eleven days off work in 2025, it is still more than most of the world’s developed economies.

For example, the United Kingdom has only eight public holidays, Germany has ten, and the United States and China have eleven each.

The table below shows the public holidays observed in South Africa in 2025.

Impact on the South African economy

The exact cost of each public holiday to the South African economy is difficult to quantify, but several factors contribute to the loss, including:

• Lost productivity: When employees are not working, businesses lose output, negatively impacting GDP.  
• Increased wages: Employers are legally required to pay employees double their regular rate for working on public holidays, increasing labour costs.
• Reduced economic activity: Public holidays can lead to decreased consumer spending and reduced economic activity in certain sectors.

Studies have shown that public holidays can cost the South African economy billions of rands.

For example, in 2011, when President Kgalema Motlanthe unexpectedly added another public holiday to the calendar, BDO South Africa estimated the cost to GDP at R7 billion.  

Adjusted for inflation, this would amount to R13.20 billion today. Assuming every public holiday in South Africa carries this cost, the country is set to lose R158.44 billion in 2025.

Note that this is a rough estimation. Public holidays can also have positive effects on the economy, such as boosting tourism and retail sales.

However, in South Africa, structural constraints have already significantly dampened economic growth and people’s ability to be fully productive.

Public holidays add to the loss of productivity, which adds to South Africa’s sluggish economic performance.

Labour economist Andrew Levy said there is big absenteeism around public holidays, so businesses in South Africa lose much more than a single day.

Last year, Productivity CEO Mothunye Mothiba explained to Kaya Biz that, of the 365 days in a year, 104 are weekends. In addition, South Africa had 14 public holidays last year.

Therefore, 118 days – almost a third of the year – were effectively “unproductive”.