Boksburg (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Boksburg
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Boksburg within the Witwatersrand (1981)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	23,177 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Sakkie Blanché (NP)
Replaced by	Gauteng

Boksburg was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1915 to 1994. It covered a part of the East Rand centred on the town of Boksburg. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal Provincial Council.

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. In the Transvaal Colony, and its predecessor the South African Republic, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Transvaal Province were held on a whites-only franchise from the beginning. The franchise was also restricted by property and education qualifications until the 1933 general election, following the passage of the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931. From then on, the franchise was given to all white citizens aged 21 or over. Non-whites remained disenfranchised until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994. ^[1]

History

The mines of the Witwatersrand were an early stronghold of South African trade unionism, and this made Boksburg fertile ground for the Labour Party - though not quite as safe as neighbouring seats like Benoni or Jeppes. It was held by the party during its nationwide peaks in 1920 and 1924-29, and otherwise alternated between the major parties. It was held by the Unionists in the 1910s, the South African Party in 1921, and in 1933, it was one of two seats won by Tielman Roos' "Central Party". From 1938 to 1958, it was a United Party seat, and in 1958 it fell to the governing National Party, who would hold it until the end of apartheid. Its last MP, Sakkie Blanché, was first elected in 1978, and continued to be a fixture of conservative politics in the post-apartheid era, only retiring in 2009.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	J. C. MacNeillie	Unionist
	1915
	1920	J. J. McMenamin	Labour
	1921	Robert Hugh Henderson	South African
	1924	J. J. McMenamin	Labour
	1929
	1933	G. S. Bouwer	Roos
	1938	L. B. Klopper	United
	1943	H. J. Williams
	1948
	1953
	1958	G. L. H. van Niekerk	National
	1961
	1966	J. P. A. Reyneke
	1970
	1974
	1977
	1978 by	Sakkie Blanché
	1981
	1987
	1989
	1994	Constituency abolished

^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1910 South African general election § Boksburg.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Boksburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	J. C. MacNeillie	1,109	62.0	New
	Het Volk	C. B. Mussared	680	38.0	New
Majority			429	24.0	N/A
	Unionist win (new seat)

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1915 South African general election § Boksburg.[ edit ]

General election 1915: Boksburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	J. C. MacNeillie	959	61.1	−0.9
	Labour	A. Ruffels	611	38.9	New
Majority			348	22.2	N/A
Turnout			1,570	76.4	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1920 South African general election § Boksburg.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Boksburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. J. McMenamin	843	40.2	+1.3
	Unionist	J. J. Byron	824	39.3	−21.8
	National	P. J. Baird	428	20.4	New
Majority			19	0.9	N/A
Turnout			2,095	64.5	−11.9
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+10.2

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1921 South African general election § Boksburg.[ edit ]

General election 1921: Boksburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Robert Hugh Henderson	1,059	50.0	New
	Labour	J. J. McMenamin	686	32.4	−7.8
	National	P. F. Anderson	374	17.7	−2.7
Majority			373	17.6	N/A
Turnout			2,119	63.7	−0.8
	South African gain from Labour		Swing	N/A

References

1. "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
2. Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
3. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).
4. South Africa 1980/81: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
5. South Africa 1983: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
6. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 10751. 22 May 1987. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
7. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12109. 20 September 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.