The local government elections will take place on May 18, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe announced on Thursday.
Addressing the National Council of Provinces, Motlanthe, who is acting president while President Jacob Zuma is abroad in France, said the term of municipal councils would end soon.
In terms of the Local Government Municipal Structures Act, "the term of municipal councils is five years, calculated from the day following the date set for the previous election of all municipal councils".
"After consultation with the [Independent] Electoral Commission (IEC), government has set the date for the local government elections as 18 May 2011," he said.
The date would be formally proclaimed by publishing a notice in the Government Gazette within the next week.
Motlanthe said tt had been decided to announce the date now to give the IEC more time to prepare for the elections.
Once the election date was gazetted next week, the municipal segment of the voters' roll would close.
This meant eligible voters had the last opportunity from Thursday until the proclamation of the election date was published to ensure their names appeared correctly on the voters' roll.
"I therefore call upon all South Africans to make full use of the last voter registration weekend of 5-6 March 2011 set by the IEC to ensure that their names appear correctly on the voters' roll," Motlanthe said.
'Empower a woman, empower a nation'
Meanwhile 13 political parties pledged to respect their political support and to promote conditions which would ensure this year's elections would be free and fair at an IEC summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on Thursday.
"There are more women in South Africa who vote and are on the voters' roll. The challenge now is that we are hoping the [political] parties will include women in their lists," said IEC chairperson, Dr Brigalia Bam.
Mavis Matladi, leader of the United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) said, 'We believe that when you empower a woman, you are empowering a nation. It is the hand that rocks the cradle that should govern."
The commission reiterated its goal to reach more young people during this election.
Young South Africans needed to "learn to appreciate the legacy that was left for them", said Bam.