Zimbabwe Public Holidays 2026: Full List and Bank/Government Office Closures

Zimbabwe observes around 15 public holidays a year, split across three categories: national days, religious holidays and commemorative days honouring a person or event. This page lists every one of them for the current and following year, shows which category each falls into, and shows which banks, government offices and schools close for it.

The types of public holiday, and what to expect from each

Not every public holiday works the same way. Knowing which type a date falls under tells you whether it moves from year to year and how it ended up on the calendar in the first place.

• National holidays are the country’s founding dates: New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Workers’ Day, Africa Day and Boxing Day. They fall on the same calendar date every year and are set out directly in the schedule to the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act [Chapter 10:21].
• Religious holidays follow the Christian calendar: Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and Christmas Day. Because Easter’s date is calculated rather than fixed, these move each year, and the exact dates are re-confirmed by General Notice ahead of the year they apply to.
• Commemorative holidays honour a specific person, institution or historical event, and have been added one at a time over the years, usually by Statutory Instrument rather than in the Act itself. Heroes’ Day and Defence Forces Day recognise the liberation struggle, National Unity Day marks the 1987 Unity Accord, Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day marks the former president’s birthday, and Munhumutapa Day, the newest of the group, honours the pre-colonial Munhumutapa title.

Who decides Zimbabwe’s public holidays

Parliament sets the base list of public holidays in the schedule to the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act. Adding a new holiday to that list, or changing an existing one, needs either an amendment to the Act itself or a Statutory Instrument issued by the President under section 2(2) of the Act. That’s how Munhumutapa Day became a holiday: Statutory Instrument 148 of 2026 declared 15 September a public holiday “every year henceforth”, without Parliament having to amend the Act.

Because a handful of dates move every year or need re-confirming, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage also publishes a General Notice each year setting out the confirmed list of holiday dates for the year ahead, usually before the year in question begins.

What happens when a holiday falls on a Sunday

When a fixed public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the public holiday instead, so employees and government offices still get the day off work. This page marks those shifted dates as “Observed”.

Are businesses required to close on public holidays

Public holidays are official non-working days for government offices, courts, banks and schools. Private employers are not legally required to close, though most reduce their hours or shut entirely, particularly on Christmas Day, Independence Day and New Year’s Day. Employees who are required to work on a public holiday are generally entitled to enhanced pay under Zimbabwe’s Labour Act.

How informal traders and transport treat public holidays

Informal traders don’t follow one rule on public holidays. Vendors whose customers are mostly other businesses, such as someone selling airtime or snacks outside a bank or government office, have little reason to set up on a day when that office is closed, so those spots often go quiet. Vendors who rely on general foot traffic instead, especially in residential areas, at bus terminals, or along routes people travel for family gatherings, often see their busiest trading of the year on public holidays, since more people are out and about with time and cash to spend. Christmas Day, Independence Day and New Year’s Day tend to be the strongest for this kind of trading.

Transport costs usually move too. Kombi fares, taxis and ride-hailing services such as InDrive often raise their prices on public holidays, particularly around Christmas and New Year, when demand for travel to family gatherings is at its highest.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)