Will election day be a holiday?

Written on March 4, 2009 – 8:39 pm | by Abigail Abrahams |

So far all our election days since 1994 have been declared public holidays. This year’s election has not yet been declared a holiday. The expecation is that it will be.

My colleagues have already started planning their leave!

I will just be back from leave so another day off won’t hurt. Business owners though are never happy and in the current economic climate they will get lots of sympathy.

We work in the NGO field though, so it won’t impact the economy as much.

The reason the public holidays are gazetted by the President, is because many people in townships and rural areas travel with public transport for hours to get to and from work.

It is thought that the poor would not get to vote if they left home at 5.00am and return long after sunset, leaving them no time to stand for hours in lines to vote.

And COSATU have called for workers to stay away from work, which might have nudged the President just a bit.

But until President Motlanthe says otherwise, and gazettes the 22nd April as a holiday, we will just have to wait and see.