Franchise notes
When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place. The Cape Colony had implemented a “colour-blind” franchise known as the Cape Qualified Franchise, which included all adult literate men owning more than £75 worth of property (controversially raised from £25 in 1892), and this initially remained in effect after the colony became the Cape Province. As of 1908, 22,784 out of 152,221 electors in the Cape Colony were “Native or Coloured”. Eligibility to serve in Parliament and the Provincial Council, however, was restricted to whites from 1910 onward.
The first challenge to the Cape Qualified Franchise came with the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931, which extended the vote to women and removed property qualifications for the white population only – non-white voters remained subject to the earlier restrictions. In 1936, the Representation of Natives Act removed all black voters from the common electoral roll and introduced three “Native Representative Members”, white MPs elected by the black voters of the province and meant to represent their interests in particular. A similar provision was made for Coloured voters with the Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951, and although this law was challenged by the courts, it went into effect in time for the 1958 general election, which was thus held with all-white voter rolls for the first time in South African history. The all-white franchise would continue until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994. [1]
History
As with most of the Karoo, the electorate of Beaufort West was largely Afrikaans-speaking, and the seat was a stronghold of the National Party and its predecessors. With the exception of the 1910 and 1915 elections, in which it was held by the South African Party, the NP won Beaufort West every time the seat was contested. Its most notable MP, Eric Louw, was first elected in 1924, then represented the seat from 1938 to 1963. He was known as an antisemite and a member of the NP’s radical wing, and in 1938 represented the Purified National Party. He retired from politics in 1963, and his successor as Foreign Affairs Minister, Hilgard Muller, won the seat. Beaufort West was held unopposed by the NP for much of the 1960s and 70s, but in 1987 and 1989 saw contests by the Conservative Party. However, as in much of the Cape, the Conservatives were never successful in taking the seat.
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