Johannesburg - The date for South Africa's general elections has been set at April 22, President Kgalema Motlanthe announced Tuesday.

South Africans will be called to vote in their fourth national and provincial elections since the end of apartheid in the early 1990s.

Motlanthe told the National Assembly in Cape Town he had agreed on the date with the Independent Electoral Commission.

"With this coming election, the maturisation of our democracy receives yet another shot in the arm," Motlanthe said.

The popular ruling African National Congress, which led the fight to end apartheid, is expected to easily win the election.

But the emergence of a new party of disgruntled former ANC members has led to speculation that the party's more-than-two-thirds majority in the National Assembly could be diminished.

After the election, the new parliament elects a president. ANC leader Jacob Zuma is the party's candidate to succeed Motlanthe. (dpa)