FILE: Werner Beukes/SAPA
Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has gazetted November 1 as the date for the local government elections.
This legal step will see the voters roll sealed at midnight on Monday.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had conducted a two-day voter registration drive at the weekend to get as many people registered.
Those who have not yet registered have until midnight to do so.
The IEC has also indicated political parties will have until Tuesday at 5pm to submit their final candidate nomination lists.
Those who fail to do so will be disqualified, the organisation said. The final list of candidates will be published on September 29.
On Monday, the Constitutional Court gave a boost to the IEC's argument that it was legally sound for it to amend its elections timetable.
This resulted in the candidate nomination process being reopened.
The IEC took the decision following the apex court's earlier judgment which dismissed its application to postpone the elections.
Opposition political parties were furious with the move, which they saw as giving a lifeline to the ANC, which had failed to submit candidates in over 30 municipalities – when the initial deadline was set.
On Monday, the Constitutional Court dismissed the DA's application to have the IEC's decision to re-open the candidate nomination process declared invalid and unconstitutional.
The court, in a unanimous judgment, found the IEC had the legal basis to amend its timetable – resulting in the re-opening of the candidate nomination process.
The ANC has welcomed the court's decision.
The IEC is, this afternoon, expected to outline how well it did at the weekend in registering voters.