I think it makes sense that 27 December was awarded public holiday status, for those who would otherwise lose a public holiday. Of course, I think there is a lot of merit in the allegation that many would make that South Africa has too many public holidays, and as an employer, I definitely believe that is the case, particularly in April.

It does not however assist with long-term planning and that companies have already factored in their bonuses, calculated and loaded December salaries, etc, and on 14 December 2011 you suddenly get told that a day, in thirteen days’ time, and in most cases only one working day away, given that most businesses close on 15 December, is suddenly a public holiday. So it is amazing that some thought could not have been given to this, by all of the people it suddenly became so important to, quite some time before this.