Workers' Day in South Africa

A public holiday with a South African history

The Public Holidays Act, 1994 lists 1 May as Workers’ Day and provides that public holidays are paid holidays. The Act also allows an employer and employee to agree to exchange a public holiday for another day.[2]

Workers’ Day has international roots in the late nineteenth-century campaigns for workers’ rights and social justice. In South Africa, the date gained an additional meaning: labour and trade groups used it before the 1994 democratic elections to rally against apartheid, and the holiday has been officially recognized since those elections.[3]

What the day represents

The holiday celebrates workers’ rights and recalls the part played by trade unions and other labour organizations in the struggle against apartheid. The South African Government describes the linked fights for better working conditions and against racial segregation as central to the day’s local significance.[3]

May Day is observed in many countries as an international workers’ holiday, but South Africa’s commemoration also reflects the country’s own history of labour conflict and resistance to apartheid.[3]

How it is observed

Before 1994, labour and trade groups often marked Workers’ Day with demonstrations and used it to mobilize resistance to apartheid. Today, the government lists Workers’ Day among its commemorative events.[3]

Work, services and planning

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act says an employer may not require an employee to work on a public holiday except in accordance with an agreement. When the holiday falls on a day the employee would ordinarily work, an employee who does not work must receive at least the wage they would have earned that day; employees who do work are entitled to the statutory public-holiday rate.[4]

The public-holiday laws do not set opening hours for shops or transport services. Since businesses and service providers may have their own schedules, check directly before travelling or making plans; the holiday’s legal status alone does not confirm that a particular location will be closed or open.[2][4]