Public holidays 2026 in Zimbabwe
There are 13 public holidays in 2026.
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| Date | Weekday | Holiday | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | New Year's Day | ||
| Saturday | Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day | ||
| Friday | Good Friday | ||
| Saturday | Easter Saturday | ||
| Monday | Easter Monday | ||
| Saturday | Independence Day | ||
| Friday | Workers' Day | ||
| Monday | Africa Day | ||
| Monday | Zimbabwe Heroes' Day | ||
| Tuesday | Defense Forces Day | ||
| Tuesday | Unity Day | ||
| Friday | Christmas Day | ||
| Saturday | Boxing Day |
Days marked "observed" are substitute days off when a holiday falls on a weekend. Holidays based on a lunar calendar can shift by a day once the official announcement is made.
Long weekends 2026
9 times a public holiday lies close to a weekend – with a little leave it becomes a long weekend:
| Take leave | Off | Days of leave | Days off | Ratio | Occasion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 2 Jan | 1 Jan – 4 Jan 2026 | 1 | 4 | 4 | New Year's Day |
| Mon 30 Mar, Tue 31 Mar, Wed 1 Apr, Thu 2 Apr | 28 Mar – 6 Apr 2026 | 4 | 10 | 2.5 | Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Monday |
| Tue 7 Apr, Wed 8 Apr, Thu 9 Apr, Fri 10 Apr | 3 Apr – 12 Apr 2026 | 4 | 10 | 2.5 | Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Monday |
| Mon 27 Apr, Tue 28 Apr, Wed 29 Apr, Thu 30 Apr | 25 Apr – 3 May 2026 | 4 | 9 | 2.3 | Workers' Day |
| Tue 26 May, Wed 27 May, Thu 28 May, Fri 29 May | 23 May – 31 May 2026 | 4 | 9 | 2.3 | Africa Day |
| Wed 12 Aug, Thu 13 Aug, Fri 14 Aug | 8 Aug – 16 Aug 2026 | 3 | 9 | 3 | Zimbabwe Heroes' Day, Defense Forces Day |
| Mon 21 Dec | 19 Dec – 22 Dec 2026 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Unity Day |
| Wed 23 Dec, Thu 24 Dec | 22 Dec – 27 Dec 2026 | 2 | 6 | 3 | Unity Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day |
| Mon 28 Dec, Tue 29 Dec, Wed 30 Dec, Thu 31 Dec | 25 Dec – 3 Jan 2027 | 4 | 10 | 2.5 | Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day |
Counted are gaps of up to four working days between a public holiday and the weekend or another public holiday. "Ratio" = days off per day of leave. Weekends follow the local working week.
Dates are generated from the open-source library python-holidays and automatically cross-checked against Nager.Date and the public Google Calendar holiday calendars; every holiday on a working day must be confirmed by a second source. Official announcements take precedence, especially for holidays that depend on the moon or are declared at short notice.
Sources
- Data: python-holidays 0.105 (MIT licence), country code ZW (retrieved Sep 27, 2026)
- Cross-check: Nager.Date public holiday API (MIT licence) (retrieved Sep 27, 2026)
- Cross-check: Google Calendar public holiday calendar (en.zw) (retrieved Sep 27, 2026)
Last updated:
Other years
- Public holidays 2026
- Public holidays 2027