President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared Tuesday December 27 a public holiday in lieu of Christmas Day falling on a Sunday.

The presidency announced that Ramaphosa declared the holiday in terms of Section 2A of the Public Holidays Act (Act No 36 of 1994).

“In terms of the 2022 annual calendar, Christmas Day, 25 December, falls on a Sunday. Section 2(1) of the Public Holidays Act provides that whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be a public holiday,” said presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.

In this instance, the Monday following Christmas Day is another public holiday, the Day of Goodwill.

 “If the holiday of Sunday 25 December were to be moved to Monday 26 December, this would cancel the holiday of 26 December or cause the two holidays — which are part of 12 paid public holidays annually — to overlap,” stated Magwenya.

The presidency said that this would mean workers would only have 11 paid public holidays this year, while Section 5 of the Public Holidays Act provides that "... every employee shall be entitled to ... at least the number of public holidays as provided for in this Act”.

The president declared a public holiday in view of the unique circumstances around the 2022 calendar, and to uphold relevant labour law principles and practices, Magwenya said.

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