President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared Tuesday, 27 December 2022, a public holiday because of Christmas Day falling on a Sunday.
The Presidency said the decision follows a declaration to this effect by Ramaphosa in terms of Section 2A of the Public Holidays Act (Act No 36 of 1994).
This year Christmas falls on a Sunday and in terms of the Public Holidays Act, “whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be a public holiday.
“In this instance, the Monday following the 25 December 2022 is another holiday, Day of Goodwill,” it said.
But in this case, the following Monday-the Day of Goodwill- is already a public holiday.
This has led to the calls from the unions, in particular, to declare the following Tuesday- the 27th– a public holiday.
Cosatu urged Ramaphosa to declare December 27 a public holiday, saying it would also show appreciation for the sacrifices workers had made in keeping the economy moving.
If the holiday of Sunday, 25 December were 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.
This would mean workers would only have 11 paid public holidays in 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.”
In view of the unique circumstances around the 2022 calendar, and to uphold relevant labour law principles and practices, President Ramaphosa has declared Tuesday, 27 December, as a public holiday.
Source: Engineering News, IOL, News24, Eyewitness News, The Citizen, image from Twitter: @channelafrica1
