South Africans can enjoy an extra public holiday this year, as President Jacob Zuma announced that December 27 would now be declared a public holiday.

This was done in terms of section 2A of the Public Holidays Act, the presidency said.

A request was made by the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa).

"The request by Fedusa was motivated by the fact this year workers in the country will only have 11 public holidays instead of 12 due to fact that the December 25 (Christmas Day) falls on a Sunday," spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga said.

According to section 2(1) of the Public Holidays Act, 1994 "whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be a public holiday".

This year the Monday following Christmas Day was another public holiday, being December 26. This had resulted in the two public holidays overlapping, Ngqulunga said.

"The declaration of December 27 as a public holiday will ensure that workers are not unduly disadvantaged because of this unusual event and are still entitled to their 12 paid public holidays," he said.