Public holidays in South Africa 2028

There are 13 public holidays in 2028. 10 of them fall on a working day.

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All 13 public holidays in South Africa 2028

Date	Weekday	Holiday
1 Jan 2028	Saturday	New Year's Day
21 Mar 2028	Tuesday	Human Rights Day
14 Apr 2028	Friday	Good Friday
17 Apr 2028	Monday	Family Day
27 Apr 2028	Thursday	Freedom Day
1 May 2028	Monday	Workers' Day
16 Jun 2028	Friday	Youth Day
9 Aug 2028	Wednesday	National Women's Day
24 Sep 2028	Sunday	Heritage Day
25 Sep 2028	Monday	Heritage Day (observed)
16 Dec 2028	Saturday	Day of Reconciliation
25 Dec 2028	Monday	Christmas Day
26 Dec 2028	Tuesday	Day of Goodwill

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 2028

12 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
Mon 20 Mar	18 Mar – 21 Mar 2028	1	4	4	Human Rights Day
Wed 22 Mar, Thu 23 Mar, Fri 24 Mar	21 Mar – 26 Mar 2028	3	6	2	Human Rights Day
Mon 10 Apr, Tue 11 Apr, Wed 12 Apr, Thu 13 Apr	8 Apr – 17 Apr 2028	4	10	2.5	Good Friday, Family Day
Tue 18 Apr, Wed 19 Apr, Thu 20 Apr, Fri 21 Apr	14 Apr – 23 Apr 2028	4	10	2.5	Good Friday, Family Day
Mon 24 Apr, Tue 25 Apr, Wed 26 Apr	22 Apr – 27 Apr 2028	3	6	2	Freedom Day
Fri 28 Apr	27 Apr – 1 May 2028	1	5	5	Freedom Day, Workers' Day
Tue 2 May, Wed 3 May, Thu 4 May, Fri 5 May	29 Apr – 7 May 2028	4	9	2.3	Workers' Day
Mon 12 Jun, Tue 13 Jun, Wed 14 Jun, Thu 15 Jun	10 Jun – 18 Jun 2028	4	9	2.3	Youth Day
Mon 7 Aug, Tue 8 Aug	5 Aug – 9 Aug 2028	2	5	2.5	National Women's Day
Thu 10 Aug, Fri 11 Aug	9 Aug – 13 Aug 2028	2	5	2.5	National Women's Day
Tue 26 Sep, Wed 27 Sep, Thu 28 Sep, Fri 29 Sep	23 Sep – 1 Oct 2028	4	9	2.3	Heritage Day, Heritage Day (observed)
Wed 27 Dec, Thu 28 Dec, Fri 29 Dec	23 Dec – 1 Jan 2029	3	10	3.3	Christmas Day, Day of Goodwill, 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.

Frequently asked questions

How many public holidays does South Africa have in 2028?

13 public holidays. 3 of them fall on a weekend in 2028.

Which public holiday gives the best long weekend in 2028?

Freedom Day, Workers' Day: take 1 day of leave (28 Apr) and you get 5 days off in a row, 27 Apr – 1 May 2028.

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Sources

Data: python-holidays 0.105 (MIT licence), country code ZA (retrieved Sep 28, 2026)
Cross-check: Nager.Date public holiday API (MIT licence) (retrieved Sep 28, 2026)
Cross-check: Google Calendar public holiday calendar (en.sa) (retrieved Sep 28, 2026)

Last updated: Sep 26, 2026