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Free tool · South Africa

Court days calculator

Count court days the way Uniform Rule 1 does, skipping Saturdays, Sundays and every South African public holiday, or count calendar days and see whether the last day lands on a court day. The calculator shows every day it skipped and why.

The period

Enter a trigger date and a number of days.

Ten court days to plead, five court days to file an answering affidavit after a notice of set-down, twenty court days to deliver a plea after a notice of bar has run: type the period the rule gives you and the calculator returns the last day, with every weekend and holiday it stepped over.

South African public holidays 2026

Per the Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994, including the Sunday-to-Monday rule. These are the days the court-day count skips.

DateHoliday
Thu 1 Jan 2026New Year’s Day
Sat 21 Mar 2026Human Rights Day
Fri 3 Apr 2026Good Friday
Mon 6 Apr 2026Family Day
Mon 27 Apr 2026Freedom Day
Fri 1 May 2026Workers’ Day
Tue 16 Jun 2026Youth Day
Sun 9 Aug 2026National Women’s Day
Mon 10 Aug 2026National Women’s Day (observed)
Thu 24 Sep 2026Heritage Day
Wed 16 Dec 2026Day of Reconciliation
Fri 25 Dec 2026Christmas Day
Sat 26 Dec 2026Day of Goodwill

Court day questions

What is a court day?

Under Uniform Rule 1, a court day is any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday. When a rule says "within ten days" it means court days unless it says otherwise.

Is the first day counted?

No. The civil method excludes the day of the trigger event and includes the last day. If the last day is not a court day, the period usually runs to the next court day.

Which public holidays are used?

The Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994: the fixed holidays, Good Friday and Family Day worked out from the Easter date, and the rule that a holiday falling on a Sunday moves to the Monday. One-off gazetted holidays such as election days cannot be known in advance and are not included.

Does this apply to the Magistrates' Courts and the Labour Court?

The court-day method is the same, but each court's rules set their own periods and some statutes count calendar days. Check the rule you are working under and switch to calendar days where it applies.

Can I rely on this for a filing deadline?

It is a working aid built on the published rules, not legal advice. Confirm any deadline that matters against the rule itself and diarise it with a margin. Attorneys using AttorneyOS get the same calculator inside the diary, with the date added to the matter in one click.

The same calculator lives inside the AttorneyOS diary.

Calculate from the matter, add the date to the diary in one click, and let the prescription register and the weekly court roll watch the rest. Free for 7 days, no card.