Zambia public holidays
Public holidays observed throughout Zambia in calendar year 2026 — the statutory days listed in the Schedule to the Public Holidays Act, Chapter 272 of the Laws of Zambia (s.2(1)), plus days declared under s.3 by statutory notice. Section 2(2): whenever a day mentioned in the Schedule falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as a public holiday.
| Current value | 30 days held |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-01-01 |
| In force until | 2026-12-31 |
| Official source | The Public Holidays Act, Chapter 272 of the Laws of Zambia (Acts No. 14 of 1964; 59 of 1965; 23 of 1967; 50 of 1967; 33 of 1968; 14 of 1975; 12 of 1983; 23 of 1987; Government Notice 497 of 1964) — s.2(1) and (2) and the Schedule, as published by the National Assembly of Zambia / Ministry of Legal Affairs |
| Last verified | 2026-07-30 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
MONDAY-SUBSTITUTION RULE APPLIES (for now). Public Holidays Act s.2(2): 'Whenever any of the days mentioned in the Schedule falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be observed as a public holiday.' There is NO substitute for a holiday falling on a Saturday — hence Independence Day, Saturday 24 October 2026, is not moved. In 2026 the rule bites twice: International Women's Day (Sun 8 Mar) and National Prayer Day (Sun 18 Oct). PENDING CHANGE — DO NOT SERVE AS FACT: the Public Holidays (Amendment) Bill, 2026 (N.A.B. 76 of 2026, Fifth Session of the Thirteenth Assembly) would 'remove the observance of a Monday as a public holiday on the day following a public holiday falling on a Sunday'. As at 24 July 2026 that Bill is still at the Presentation stage — not passed, not assented, no commencement date (https://www.parliament.gov.zm/node/13074). If it is enacted before 18 October 2026 the 19 October in-lieu Monday disappears. SOURCING CAVEAT, stated plainly: eleven of the fifteen days above come straight from the statutory Schedule and are fully sourced. Four — International Women's Day (8 Mar), Easter Monday, Kenneth Kaunda Day (28 Apr, the birthday of the first President, born 28 April 1924) and the National Day of Prayer (18 Oct) — are NOT in the Schedule as consolidated to 31 December 1996 and rest on later amendment or on the Minister's s.3 power to declare additional holidays by statutory notice. No Zambian government repository publishes the instruments that created them: parliament.gov.zm hosts only the 1996 consolidation of Cap 272 and no Public Holidays (Amendment) Act, ZambiaLII's copy is the same 1996 text, and gazettes.africa has no searchable Zambian supplement for them. They are included because they are unambiguously observed nationally, but a consumer needing statute-level authority for those four should treat them as observed-in-practice. SECOND TRAP — Heroes'/Unity Day can be MOVED by executive gazette notice, and was in 2025: the Secretary to the Cabinet revoked Government Gazette Notice No. 1078 of 2024 and issued Gazette Notice No. 157 of 2025, restoring Heroes and Unity Day to Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 July 2025 after they had been announced for 30 June and 1 July (https://www.cabinet.gov.zm/?p=10270). No equivalent 2026 gazette notice was published online at confirmation, so the dates above follow the statutory formula (first Monday in July = 6 July 2026; Tuesday following = 7 July 2026; first Monday in August = 3 August 2026). One-off holidays (state funerals, elections) are also declared under s.3 — e.g. S.I. No. 20 of 2022 declared 18 March 2022 a holiday for the state funeral of President Rupiah Banda. Zambia does not observe Boxing Day (26 December). 2027 EXTENSION (2026-07-30): the Schedule to the Public Holidays Act, Cap 272, as amended by Act 23 of 1987 (there is no later amending Act), together with the days added by statutory instrument (International Women's Day, Kenneth Kaunda Day and the National Day of Prayer). Two nth-weekday rules are confirmed from the Schedule: Heroes Day is the first Monday in July and Farmers Day the first Monday in August, with Unity Day defined as the Tuesday FOLLOWING Heroes Day - modelled as Heroes Day plus one day rather than as the first Tuesday of July, because the two diverge whenever 1 July is itself a Tuesday. Substitution under s.2(2) covers SUNDAY occurrences of Schedule days only, and fires exactly once in 2027: Independence Day falls on Sunday 24 October and is observed Monday 25 October. Christmas Day, a Saturday, is not moved. Kenneth Kaunda Day is 28 APRIL (his date of birth), not 17 April. Zambia does not observe Boxing Day. MONITOR: the Public Holidays (Amendment) Bill, N.A.B. 76 of 2026 would have deleted s.2(2) entirely; it was withdrawn during Second Reading on 12 May 2026, so the rule stands and the 25 October observance is live - but that single day depends on it. Ministerial s.3 declarations are additive and none is proclaimed for 2027.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/zm/public-holidays
# Free.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/zm/public-holidays/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/zm/public-holidaysOther Zambia series: policy interest rate · VAT rate · minimum wage · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates