Public Holidays in 2020: How to turn 15 work days into 40 leave days

Whether you’re waking up hungover or dreading your return to work this New Year’s Day, you should know by now that you can trust thesouthafrican.com to pick you up during the difficult times. We aren’t about to let the January Blues take hold of you, and we’re already planning how to get you out of the office this year. Thanks to conveniently placed Public Holidays and a 15-day leave schedule, we’ve got a little scheme going.

When are the Public Holidays for 2020 in South Africa?

We’ve looked at the public holiday calendar for 2020, to try and maximise the holiday leave available to South Africans. We’re working on office hours here, so for you lot in retail and service, we salute you. If we ever add another public holiday to the year, it should be named after you guys.

Date	Day	Public Holiday
1 Jan	Wed	New Year’s Day
21 Mar	Sat	Human Rights Day
10 Apr	Fri	Good Friday
13 Apr	Mon	Family Day
27 Apr	Mon	Freedom Day
1 May	Fri	Workers’ Day
16 Jun	Tue	Youth Day
9 Aug	Sun	National Women’s Day
10 Aug	Mon	National Women’s Day Holiday
24 Sep	Thu	Heritage Day
16 Dec	Wed	Day of Reconciliation
25 Dec	Fri	Christmas Day
26 Dec	Sat	Day of Goodwill

Booking leave days for 2020

And here’s how we’re going to manipulate the system in 2020. We’ve worked out a way to make it feel like you’ve almost tripled your leave schedule. By taking tactical days off between public holidays and weekends, your three-day breaks can actually become eight or nine consecutive days out of office.

• You can turn your Easter break into a week-long affair by booking three days off.
• Freedom Day and Workers’ Day occur on a Monday and a Friday respectively. Booking the three days off in between gives you nine straight days out of office. Don’t expect to win employee of the month for April, though.
• If your employers don’t have an official “December break”, you can turn four days off into 10 days off around the Christmas period.

Out of office: The ultimate “leave days” calendar

In fact, you could have squeezed a little more out of the schedule, had Human Rights Day not landed on a Saturday this year. This really does feel like a breach of our civil liberties, but don’t worry, we know a thing or two about compensating: When you’re submitting this leave form to the boss, tell them to hate the game rather than the player. Here’s what we’re looking at.

Holiday Date	Days to take off	Time out of office
Easter: 10 – 13 April	. Thurs 9 April . Tues 14 April . Weds 15 April	Seven days
Freedom Day & Workers Day: Monday 27 April & Friday 1 May	. Tues 28 April . Weds 29 April . Thurs 30 April	Nine days
Youth Day: Tuesday 16 June	. Mon 15 June	Four days
Women’s Day: Monday 10 August	. Friday 7 August . Tuesday 11 August	Five days
Heritage Day: Thursday 24 September	. Fri 25 September , Mon 28 September	Five days
Day of Reconciliation: Wednesday 16 December	. Thurs 17 December . Fri 18 December	Five days
Christmas: 25 – 26 December	. Thurs 24 December . Mon 28 December	Five days
TOTAL DAYS OFF:	15	40