Cape Town - South Africans woke up to some good news as President Cyril Ramaphosa declared December 27, 2022 a public holiday.
This is because Christmas Day this year falls on a Sunday.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya made the announcement on Thursday morning, saying the declaration was in terms of Section 2A of the Public Holidays Act.
This comes after the two biggest union federations Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) made the proposal.
“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’. In this instance, the Monday following December 25 is another public holiday, Day of Goodwill,” said Magwenya.
If the Christmas holiday were to be moved to December 26 this would cancel the holiday of Day of Goodwill 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."
Magwenya said the proclamation upholds the relevant labour law principles and practice.
Cosatu national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla had said workers whose workplaces would mainly be open during the festive season would not enjoy the Christmas holiday to its fullest if the government fails to issue such a presidential proclamation.
Pamla said this was important for workers as the Christmas period is the only time they can travel home to rural areas to spend time with their children and families after a long year’s hard work.
Cape Times