If South Africa institutes the five additional public holidays recently proposed by religious groups, the country's total economic loss will be in excess of R120 billion – more than 10 times the South African trade deficit thus far in 2012 – according to the South African Reserve Bank.
If South Africa institutes the five additional public holidays recently proposed by religious groups, the country's total economic loss will be in excess of R120 billion – more than 10 times the South African trade deficit thus far in 2012 – according to the South African Reserve Bank.
The bank was responding to a recent call by religious groups for more time off to be added to South Africa's 12 existing official public holidays.
According to Independent Online around 100 religious lobbyists, representing more than 20 religious groups, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Rastafarians and Hindu, handed over recommendations to the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, after a meeting in Durban last Thursday.
Among the representations was a submission from the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, whose president, Ashwin Trikamjee, appealed to South Africans of all religious persuasions to participate in the traditional Hindu festival of Diwali.
We are asking all South Africans to participate in this important event as we equally join you when you are having your religious holidays, he said, referring to the overwhelming number of Christian holidays on the calendar.
Suleman Dangor, representing the Muslim community, called for employers to be sensitive, allowing employees to take paid leave over religious feast days.
And Rastafarians have called for the inclusion of two additional public holidays from their religious calendar.
According to BDO South Africa, an association of accounting firms, the country suffered an estimated loss of R7 billion as a result of the implementation of a new public holiday on 27 December 2011. This amounted to 0.002% of the South African Gross Domestic Product for that year, the association said.
Economic giants, China, have four national holidays. On average other countries have in the region of nine public holidays a year.
