Time Zones in South Africa
South Africa spans one time zone (UTC+2) among the 2 cities tracked on Live Time Map. None of them observe daylight saving time, so their offsets stay the same all year. See the live local time for each city below, or use the interactive map to compare any of them against your own location.
South Africa facts
- Currency
- South African rand (ZAR)
- Languages
- Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English
- Calling code
- +27
- Time zones on this site
- 1
Clock time and solar time in South Africa
A country's clocks are a political choice, not an astronomical one, so they rarely line up with its own sun. Measured against local solar time, the clock in Cape Town runs 46 minutes ahead of the sun, while in Johannesburg it runs 8 minutes ahead of the sun.
That is a spread of 38 minutes between the two ends of South Africa's tracked cities, all of it the result of longitude rather than of the clock. The wider that gap, the more one shared office schedule means genuinely different amounts of morning light depending on where you are.
How much daylight changes through the year
Daylight is governed by latitude, not by the clock. Cape Town, at 33.9° south, gets 14 hours 25 minutes of daylight on the longest day of the year and 9 hours 53 minutes on the shortest.
Johannesburg, at 26.2° south, gets 13 hours 47 minutes of daylight on the longest day of the year and 10 hours 30 minutes on the shortest. So the annual swing between longest and shortest day is 4 hours 31 minutes in Cape Town against 3 hours 17 minutes in Johannesburg, within the same country.
Cities in South Africa
Want to compare a city here against your own location? Open the interactive world time zone map to pin it live.
Frequently asked questions
How many time zones does South Africa have?
South Africa uses a single time zone among the cities tracked here: UTC+2.
Does South Africa observe daylight saving time?
No, none of the cities tracked here observe daylight saving time.
Do clocks in South Africa match the sun?
Clocks and the sun are not the same thing. In Cape Town the clock runs 46 minutes ahead of local solar time, so midday on the clock is not the moment the sun is highest.
How much does daylight change through the year in South Africa?
In Cape Town, the longest day of the year has 14 hours 25 minutes of daylight and the shortest has 9 hours 53 minutes.