The President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared the 15th of December 2023 would be a public holiday to celebrate the South African Rugby team (the SpringBoks’) for winning the World cup for the fourth time.
The president was speaking during an evening national address in the wake of high anticipation for a public holiday to celebrate the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup victory.
The president caused much excitement at the Green Hydrogen Summit in Cape Town two weeks ago when he said he’d consider a public holiday should the Boks be victorious.
“In celebration of the Springboks’ momentous achievement and the achievements of all our other sportsmen and women, and as a tribute to the resolve of our united nation, I am declaring Friday the 15th of December 2023 as a public holiday. We declare this to be a day of hope, a day of celebration and unity.”
In a 30-minute-long speech, which included the government’s achievements, the president said that they had considered the matric exams, which started on Monday, in declaring the date for the public holiday.
“I know that many of us want to have a holiday now to celebrate. But we should all agree that we should give our matriculants time to focus on their exams and celebrate with them afterwards, otherwise, it will disrupt their ability to focus on their most important journey, which is writing their matriculation exams and this affects close on to a million young people.”
