President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday night (SA time) hinted that next year's general elections would take place before the end of May.
Ramaphosa was speaking at a gathering of the Council for Foreign Relations where he was delivering the David Rockefeller memorial lecture to an audience of distinguished businesspeople.
The president said he believed the ANC would get an "easy victory".
Ramaphosa said large numbers of ANC supporters, who had turned their backs on the party, were now returning.
Ramaphosa, who will be attending the 73rd General assembly of the United Nations (UN) in New York from Tuesday, had scheduled various appointments with businesspeople.
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa will be addressing the Bloomberg conference where various top business leaders will be in attendance.
Ramaphosa will also meet nine heads of state and government leaders for bilateral talks.
Ramaphosa is aiming to bring investments of $100bn to South Africa in the next five years.
*Netwerk24 reporter Sarel van der Walt is a political journalist accompanying the president by invitation of the Presidency and the department of international relations, to report on events in New York for Media24's publications.
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