Planning your year is the key to prioritising rest in a busy, fast-paced life.

Fortunately, citizens can take advantage of South Africa’s numerous public holidays, ensuring plenty of time off to recharge and spend quality moments with family.

Pretoria Rekord reports there’s a clever way to maximise public holidays and turn just a few days off into over two weeks of leave.

In 2025, while there is one ‘extra’ public holiday for observing Freedom Day (April 27 and April 28), this is counteracted by one of the other public holidays falling on a Saturday (Women’s Day, August 9).

Public holidays that fall on a Saturday do not get the observation day as with Sunday holidays — meaning South Africans will have one fewer day off (two if you count the fact there will be no bonus like election day).

This means that South Africa will, in effect, have a flat 12 days of public holidays this year.

Business Tech has compiled the following on how to maximise your leave days:

March/April: Human Rights Day to Easter

• Public holidays: Friday, April 18 (Good Friday), Monday, April 21 (Family Day)
• Take leave: April 11-17 (five days), April 22-May 2 (seven days)
• Days off: April 11 to May 5, including weekends (24 days using 12 leave days)

Explanation: Take leave from April 11-17 (five days) and April 22-May 2 (seven days) to get a continuous break from Friday, April 11 to Monday, May 5. This gives you 24 days off using just 12 leave days, covering Human Rights Day, weekends, and Good Friday.

December: Christmas and Day of Goodwill

• Public holidays: Thursday, December 25 (Christmas Day), Friday, December 26 (Day of Goodwill)
• Take leave: December 22-24 (three days)
• Days off: December 20-28 (Nine days using three leave days)

Explanation: By taking leave from December 22-24 (three days), you can enjoy a nine-day break from Saturday, December 20 to Sunday, December 28, utilising Christmas Day and Day of Goodwill.