SAST — South Africa Standard Time
Current time, offset and daylight saving status for South Africa Standard Time.
Current time in SAST
16:12:26
South Africa Standard Time · UTC+02:00
About SAST
South Africa uses UTC+2 all year.
Working with SAST
UTC+02:00 applies here on every date of the year — there is no summer offset for South Africa Standard Time to switch to, so a time written against it means the same instant in January as in July.
When it is noon UTC, South Africa Standard Time reads 14:00; midnight UTC is 02:00 here. SAST runs 2 h ahead of UTC, so its calendar day begins before the reference clock’s does.
The same standard offset, UTC+02:00, is kept by CEST and EET, though each follows its own daylight saving rules — or none — so they do not stay aligned all year. One hour to the west of SAST in this directory sits BST (UTC+01:00); one hour to the east, AST (SA) (UTC+03:00).
Clock changes in SAST
South Africa Standard Time has no clock change at any point in the year; UTC+02:00 applies on every date, in Johannesburg as everywhere else on the zone.
Of the reference zones in the table below, New York, London, Berlin, Sydney and Los Angeles observe daylight saving, so their difference from SAST shifts twice a year; UTC, Dubai, Kolkata, Singapore and Tokyo stay fixed.
Where SAST is used
In this directory 2 cities keep SAST: Johannesburg and Cape Town. Between them they cover South Africa.
Where SAST stands today
South Africa Standard Time is UTC+02:00 today and will be UTC+02:00 on every other day. A recurring meeting anchored to SAST never drifts against UTC, which makes it a dependable reference for logs kept in Johannesburg and for schedules that run across a whole year.
A working day on SAST
Taking Johannesburg as the reference point for SAST, and a working day as 09:00 to 17:00:
- New York overlaps for only 2 hours, from 15:00 to 17:00 Johannesburg time — late in the day at one end and early at the other.
- London’s working day overlaps with Johannesburg’s for 7 hours, from 10:00 to 17:00 Johannesburg time.
- Tokyo overlaps for only 1 hours, from 09:00 to 10:00 Johannesburg time — late in the day at one end and early at the other.
Seasons are reversed south of the equator. On the December solstice, midsummer here, the sun rises in Johannesburg at about 05:12 and sets at about 18:59; on the June solstice, midwinter, it rises at about 06:54 and sets at about 17:24.
How SAST compares with other zones
Right now SAST runs ahead of UTC, New York, London and Los Angeles and behind Dubai, Kolkata, Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney. At the moment it shows the same time as Berlin.
| Zone | UTC offset | Difference from SAST |
|---|---|---|
| UTC | UTC+00:00 | 2h ahead |
| New York | UTC-04:00 | 6h ahead |
| London | UTC+01:00 | 1h ahead |
| Berlin | UTC+02:00 | Same time |
| Dubai | UTC+04:00 | 2h behind |
| Kolkata | UTC+05:30 | 3h 30m behind |
| Singapore | UTC+08:00 | 6h behind |
| Tokyo | UTC+09:00 | 7h behind |
| Sydney | UTC+11:00 | 9h behind |
| Los Angeles | UTC-07:00 | 9h ahead |
Larger places currently keeping SAST: South Africa.
Cities using SAST
- Johannesburg
- Cape Town
- Pretoria
Convert SAST to another zone
Related time zones
Time zone rules: IANA tz database release 2026c, applied when this page was generated on 2026-10-09.
Frequently asked questions
What is SAST?
South Africa Standard Time, SAST, is UTC+02:00. South Africa uses UTC+2 all year.
What is the IANA identifier for SAST?
Africa/Johannesburg — the entry that covers Johannesburg in the tz database. Use it rather than SAST in software: SAST names one season, Africa/Johannesburg names the rules for every date.
Does SAST change for daylight saving?
No. South Africa Standard Time keeps UTC+02:00 on every date; so does CEST and EET.
How do I convert SAST to my local time?
One hour to the west of SAST in this directory sits BST (UTC+01:00); one hour to the east, AST (SA) (UTC+03:00). For anything beyond that, the converter applies the rules of Africa/Johannesburg for the date you give it rather than a remembered figure.
Which cities use SAST?
In this directory 2 cities keep SAST: Johannesburg and Cape Town. Between them they cover South Africa. The boundary is legal rather than geographic: it follows the borders of South Africa, not a line of longitude.
What should I put in a configuration file for SAST?
Africa/Johannesburg, never SAST. That entry carries the rules Johannesburg actually follows, including when daylight saving starts and ends, so software using it stays correct through a change that a stored offset would miss.