A public-holiday calendar records the days South Africa has set aside as statutory time off. National holidays apply nationwide; where an official regional or provincial list is published, those dates are included separately and clearly labelled rather than folded into the national figures. This calendar is a reference, not a legal determination of anyone's leave entitlement. Dates move for two common reasons: many countries observe a fixed-date holiday on the nearest working day when it falls at a weekend, and some observances follow lunar or other non-Gregorian reckoning that shifts against the everyday calendar. Regional holidays are always shown as regional and never added to the national count. The licence terms and the government producer behind each list are credited on the sources page.
Reading the table
The table gives the date a holiday falls on, the observance date when a weekend shift or substitute day applies, and notes published with the source. A Regional · <region> badge marks a holiday that applies only in that region; it is never counted as nationwide. Some countries publish both the original date and the observed date, so both are shown instead of silently adjusting one. Employers, schools, and individual workplaces may follow different calendars or grant extra days, so treat this table as a guide rather than an entitlement. For a wider comparison of why observance moves between countries, see why holiday dates differ between countries. The official source is always the final authority.
Where these dates come from
South Africa's public holidays are set by the Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994 and come from the Department of Home Affairs, reused with attribution. The Act makes a holiday that falls on a Sunday a public holiday on the following Monday as well, and the desk records both the actual and observed dates rather than silently moving one. The list is national; South Africa has no provincial public holidays, so the regional badge does not appear. Election days can be declared once-off public holidays by proclamation, and the Act itself can be amended, so a year can gain a date not present in another. The twelve statutory holidays include days such as Human Rights Day and Heritage Day that carry civic significance. The desk is refreshed from the official source when a change is made, and the standing list itself is stable from year to year.