South African Public Holidays

, South Africa has 12 public holidays as determined by the Public Holidays Act. The Act determines whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday, the Monday following it shall be a public holiday.

Here is a list of the remaining holidays for 2010:

24 September - Heritage Day

16 December - Day of Reconciliation

25 December - Christmas Day

26 December - Day of Goodwill

27 December - Public Holiday

Public Holidays in South Africa for 2011 are:

1 January - New Years Day

21 March - Human Rights Day

22 April - Good Friday (Friday before Eastern Sunday)

25 April - Family Day (Monday after Easter Sunday)

27 April - Freedom Day

1 May - Workers Day

2 May - Public Holiday

16 June - Youth Day

9 August - National Women's Day

24 September - Heritage Day

16 December - Day of Reconciliation

25 December - Christmas Day

26 December - Day of Goodwill

Human Rights Day:

The Bill of Rights contained in the Constitution is the cornerstone of democracy in South Africa.

The Constitution provides for the establishment of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). The aim of the Commission is to promote respect for human rights, promote the protection, development and attainment of human rights, and to monitor and assess the observance of human rights in South Africa. The SAHRC was launched on 21 March 1996, 35 years after the fateful events of 21 March 1960 when demonstrators in Sharpeville were gunned down by police.

Freedom Day:

Freedom Day commemorates the first democratic elections held in South Africa on 27 April 1994.

Youth Day:

Previously known as Soweto Day. In 1975 protests started in African schools after a directive from the then Bantu Education Department that Afrikaans had to be used on an equal basis with English as a language of instruction in Secondary schools. The issue, however, was not so much the Afrikaans as the whole system of Bantu education which was characterised by separate schools and universities, poor facilities, overcrowded classrooms and inadequately trained teachers. On 16 June 1976 more than 20 000 pupils from Soweto began a protest march. In the wake of the clashes with the police, and the violence that ensued during the next few weeks, approximately 700 people, many of them youths, were killed and property destroyed. Youth Day commemorates these events.

National Women's Day:

This day commemorates 9 August 1956 when women participated in a national march to petition against pass laws (legislation that required African persons to carry a document on them to 'prove' that they were allowed to enter a 'white area').

Heritage Day:

"The day is one of our newly created public holidays and its significance rests in recognising aspects of South African culture which are both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat as well as the land in which we live.

"Within a broader social and political context, the day's events... are a powerful agent for promulgating a South African identity, fostering reconciliation and promoting the notion that variety is a national asset as opposed to igniting conflict.

"Heritage has defined as "that which we inherit: the sum total of wild life and scenic parks, sites of scientific or historical importance, national monuments, historic buildings, works of art, literature and music, oral traditions and museum collections together with their documentation." - Statement issued by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, 17 September 1996.

In an address marking Heritage Day in 1996, (former) President Nelson Mandela stated:

"When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation.

"We did so knowing that the struggles against the injustice and inequities of the past are part of our national identity; they are part of our culture. We knew that, if indeed our nation has to rise like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of division and conflict, we had to acknowledge those whose selfless efforts and talents were dedicated to this golf of non-racial democracy."

Government determines a theme for each year's celebrations.

Day of Reconciliation:

In apartheid South Africa 16 December was known as Day of the Vow, as the Voortrekkers in preparation for the battle on 16 December against the Zulus took a Vow before God that they would build a church and that they and their descendants would observe the day as a day of thanksgiving should they be granted victory. With the advent of democracy in South Africa, 16 December retained its status as a public holiday, however, this time with the purpose of fostering reconciliation and national unity.