Caledon (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Last updated
Caledon
Former constituency
for the South African House of Assembly
SA-1981-Caledon.png
Location of Caledon within South Africa (1981)
Province Cape of Good Hope
Electorate14,033(1989)
Former constituency
Created 1910
1966
Abolished 1958
1994
Number of members1
Last MHA  L. H. Fick (NP)
Replaced by Western Cape (1994)

Caledon, known as Caledon-Bredasdorp for the 1953 election, was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1958 and again from 1966 until 1994. Named after the town of Caledon, it covered part of the Overberg region. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Cape Provincial Council.

Contents

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

Like many rural constituencies across the Cape, Caledon had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. Throughout its existence, it only changed hands twice – in 1934, when the South African Party merged into the United Party, and in 1953, when the UP lost the seat to the ascendant National Party. Its first MP, Joel Krige, was the uncle-in-law of Jan Smuts and represented the seat until his death in 1933, serving as Speaker of the House of Assembly between 1915 and 1924. The seat became marginal after Krige’s death, seeing several strong contests by the National Party and nearly falling to them in 1948. In 1953, with the creation of False Bay and the abolition of Bredasdorp, the newly-rechristened Caledon-Bredasdorp became a significantly more rural constituency, and this was enough to secure it for former Bredasdorp MP Dirk Uys. In 1958, the seat was split between False Bay and Hottentots Holland, and Uys moved to the former seat.

In its second iteration, from 1966 to 1994, Caledon was a safe seat for the National Party. The recreated seat's first MP was Frank Waring, former Springboks rugby player and one of few English-speakers in the cabinet of Hendrik Verwoerd. Waring retired from politics in 1972, but the seat remained safe for the NP, going unopposed for much of the 1970s and seeing only weak contests by the liberal opposition in the 1980s.

Members

ElectionMemberParty
1910 Joel Krige South African
1915
1920
1921
1924
1929
1933
1933 byA. M. la Grange
1934 United
1938 H. C. de Wet
1943
1946 byG. S. P. Delport
1948
1953 D. C. H. Uys National
1958 constituency abolished
ElectionMemberParty
1966 Frank Waring National
1970
1972 byL. A. P. A. Munnik
1974
1977 J. D. de Villiers
1981 L. H. Fick
1987
1989
1994 constituency abolished

[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1910: Caledon
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African Joel Krige Unopposed
South African win (new seat)
General election 1915: Caledon
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African Joel Krige 1,652 64.0 N/A
National P. J. Cillié92836.0New
Majority 72428.0N/A
Turnout 2,58085.1N/A
South African hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1920: Caledon
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African Joel Krige 1,696 59.8 −4.2
National M. G. Viljoen1,14140.2+4.2
Majority 55519.6−8.4
Turnout 2,83780.2−4.9
South African hold Swing -4.2
General election 1921: Caledon
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African Joel Krige 1,833 62.5 +2.7
National P. J. Cillié1,10237.5−2.7
Majority 73125.0+5.4
Turnout 2,93580.7+0.5
South African hold Swing +2.7
General election 1924: Caledon [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African Joel Krige 1,906 59.2 −3.3
National F. W. Beyers1,31340.8+3.3
Majority 59318.4−6.6
Turnout 3,21987.4+6.7
South African hold Swing -3.3
General election 1929: Caledon [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African Joel Krige 1,741 52.7 −6.5
National M. G. Viljoen1,56447.3+6.5
Majority 1775.4−13.0
Turnout 3,30590.4+3.0
South African hold Swing -6.5

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1933: Caledon [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African Joel Krige Unopposed
South African hold
Caledon by-election, 25 September 1933 [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African H. C. de WetUnopposed
South African hold
General election 1938: Caledon [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
United H. C. de Wet 3,638 56.6 N/A
Purified National L. H. Fick2,79343.4New
Majority 84513.2N/A
Turnout 6,43193.7N/A
United hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1943: Caledon [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
United H. C. de Wet 4,401 57.2 +0.6
Reunited National J. H. O. du Plessis3,28942.8−0.6
Majority 1,11214.4+1.2
Turnout 7,69088.7−5.0
United hold Swing +0.6
Caledon by-election, 6 March 1946 [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
United G. S. P. Delport 4,326 52.7 −4.5
Reunited National L. H. Fick3,88047.3+4.5
Majority 4465.4−9.0
Turnout 8,20686.9−1.8
United hold Swing -4.5
General election 1948: Caledon [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
United G. S. P. Delport 4,521 50.6 −6.6
Reunited National J. C. de C. Louw4,41049.4+6.6
Majority 1111.2−13.2
Turnout 8,93191.6+2.9
United hold Swing -6.6

References

  1. "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
  3. South Africa 1980/81: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
  4. South Africa 1983: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
  5. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 10751. 22 May 1987. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
  6. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12109. 20 September 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.