South Africa Holidays in 2026
List of public holidays in South Africa 2026 calendar
| Date | Day | Name | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st January | Thursday | New Year's Day | Public Holiday |
| 2nd January | Friday | Tweede Nuwe Jaar | Observance |
| 16th January | Friday | Isra and Mi'raj (Tentative Date) | Muslim |
| 15th February | Sunday | Maha Shivaratri | Hindu Holiday |
| 18th February | Wednesday | Ramadan Start (Tentative Date) | Muslim |
| 21st February | Saturday | Armed Forces Day | Observance |
| 3rd March | Tuesday | Holi | Hindu Holiday |
| 15th March | Sunday | Laylatul Qadr (Night of Power) | Muslim |
| 20th March | Friday | Eid ul Fitr (Tentative Date) | Muslim |
| 20th March | Friday | March Equinox | Season |
| 21st March | Saturday | Human Rights Day | Public Holiday |
| 3rd April | Friday | Good Friday | Public Holiday |
| 4th April | Saturday | Holy Saturday | Observance, Christian |
| 5th April | Sunday | Easter Sunday | Observance, Christian |
| 6th April | Monday | Family Day | Public Holiday |
| 27th April | Monday | Freedom Day | Public Holiday |
| 1st May | Friday | Workers' Day | Public Holiday |
| 10th May | Sunday | Mother's Day | Observance |
| 27th May | Wednesday | Eid al-Adha (Tentative Date) | Muslim |
| 16th June | Tuesday | Youth Day | Public Holiday |
| 17th June | Wednesday | Muharram/Islamic New Year (Tentative Date) | Muslim |
| 21st June | Sunday | Father's Day | Observance |
| 21st June | Sunday | June Solstice | Season |
| 18th July | Saturday | Nelson Mandela Day | Observance |
| 9th August | Sunday | National Women's Day | Public Holiday |
| 10th August | Monday | Day off for National Women's Day | Public Holiday |
| 26th August | Wednesday | Milad un Nabi (Mawlid) (Tentative Date) | Muslim |
| 27th August | Thursday | Raksha Bandhan | Hindu Holiday |
| 4th September | Friday | Janmashtami | Hindu Holiday |
| 14th September | Monday | Ganesh Chaturthi | Hindu Holiday |
| 23rd September | Wednesday | September Equinox | Season |
| 24th September | Thursday | Heritage Day | Public Holiday |
| 11th October | Sunday | Navaratri | Hindu Holiday |
| 20th October | Tuesday | Dussehra | Hindu Holiday |
| 8th November | Sunday | Diwali/Deepavali | Hindu Holiday |
| 16th December | Wednesday | Day of Reconciliation | Public Holiday |
| 21st December | Monday | December Solstice | Season |
| 24th December | Thursday | Christmas Eve | Observance, Christian |
| 25th December | Friday | Christmas Day | Public Holiday |
| 26th December | Saturday | Day of Goodwill | Public Holiday |
| 31st December | Thursday | New Year's Eve | Observance |
We strive to provide an accurate and up-to-date holiday's list for South Africa. however, please note that some holidays dates may change. If you discover any discrepancies, kindly report to us.
Note: Some holidays are color-coded based on the types of holidays. For example -
- Public Holidays
- Local Holidays
- Other Holidays
Frequently Asked Questions
How many holidays in South Africa this year in 2026?
There are 13 holidays in South Africa in 2026
How to retrieve the South Africa holidays list via API?
Simply make a GET request to v1/holidays?country=ZA&year=2026 API to retrieve this list of South Africa holidays. Here is an example using Node.js and our official package on NPM.
// Install the 11holidays package from NPM
// npm i 11holidays
import HolidaysApi from '11holidays';
const instance = new HolidaysApi(API_KEY);
const holidays = await instance.holidays.list({ country: 'ZA', year: '2026'});
console.log(holidays);