At least 48 political parties paid their deposits and submitted their list of parliamentary candidates by Wednesday evening, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.
Wednesday marked the deadline for political parties wishing to contest the 2014 general election to pay their deposits and submit final lists of their candidates for Parliament, as well as the nine provincial legislatures.
IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said on Wednesday the lists were still being captured and indicated that the final number of submitted lists may be higher.
While several parties, including the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA), submitted their lists before Wednesday, many parties waited until Wednesday afternoon to do so.
The DA and the ANC made their lists public this week.
Congress of the People (Cope) president Mosiuoa Lekota arrived at the IEC's office on Wednesday an hour before the deadline, while the Pan Africanist Congress turned up about 15 minutes later.
Earlier, Agang SA, the United Democratic Movement and the Azanian People's Organisation arrived at Election House with their lists and deposit cheques.
Contesting
Agang SA's chief operating officer Andrew Gasnolar said his party was contesting the elections nationally and in seven provinces. The party would not contest in KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Cape.
Those contesting elections nationally had to pay R200 000 and R45 000 for each province.
This week the IEC succeeded in quashing an urgent court application that sought to have the deposits reduced or scrapped entirely. The application was brought by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who claimed the deposit amounts prevented smaller, and poorer, political parties from participating in elections.
On Tuesday the application was dismissed with costs. The IEC said parties' deposits are paid back if one of their members is elected to Parliament.
The EFF paid the deposit on Wednesday. EFF leader Julius Malema said the party had to collect money from its members.
Malema would not say whether he would be the party's presidential candidate. He said the party's candidate lists would be released at a media briefing soon.
The EFF confirmed it would contest elections in all nine provinces, as well as nationally. – Additional reporting by Sapa