Dundee (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Dundee
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Natal
Electorate	6,935 (1933)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1938
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Leif Egeland (UP)
Replaced by	Klip River

Dundee was a constituency in the Natal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1938. It covered a rural area in northwestern Natal centred on its namesake town. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly.

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 franchise used in the Natal Colony, while theoretically not restricted by race, was significantly less liberal than that of the Cape, and no more than a few hundred non-white electors ever qualified. In 1908, an estimated 200 of the 22,786 electors in the colony were of non-European descent, and by 1935, only one remained. ^[1] By 1958, when the last non-white voters in the Cape were taken off the rolls, Natal too had an all-white electorate. 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, which remained the case until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994. ^[2]

History

As in most of Natal, Dundee's electorate was largely English-speaking and conservative. Its first and longest-serving MP, Thomas Watt, had been a minister in the pre-union government of Natal, and as Natal didn't have partisan elections prior to 1910, he stood for and won election as an independent at the first Union general election. He almost immediately gravitated towards the governing South African Party, however, serving as a cabinet minister under Louis Botha and Jan Smuts' first government, and at every election from 1915 onwards, he was re-elected under the SAP banner. With the SAP having lost power in 1924, Watt served as an opposition MP for one term before retiring from politics in 1929. His successors, George Alfred Friend and Leif Egeland, served just one term each and were significantly less notable, though Egeland would serve as High Commissioner in London for a short time after the seat's abolition.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Thomas Watt	Independent
	1915		South African
	1920
	1921
	1924
	1929	G. A. Friend
	1933	Leif Egeland
	1934		United
	1938	Constituency abolished

^{[3] [4]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Thomas Watt	749	61.9	New
	South African	W. Springorum	291	24.1	New
	South African	P. R. N. Vermaak	170	14.1	New
Majority			458	37.8	N/A
	Independent win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Thomas Watt	823	64.6	+2.7
	Labour	R. J. Hall	285	22.4	New
	Independent	J. Dyson	166	13.0	New
Majority			538	42.2	N/A
Turnout			1,274	65.0	N/A
	South African hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Thomas Watt	377	30.9	−33.7
	Unionist	E. M. Greene	360	29.5	New
	National	J. H. Kemp	297	24.3	New
	Labour	N. R. Baytopp	187	15.3	−7.1
Majority			17	1.4	N/A
Turnout			1,221	67.1	+2.1
	South African hold		Swing	N/A

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

General election 1921: Dundee

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Thomas Watt	771	66.4	+35.5
	National	J. H. Kemp	391	33.6	+9.3
Majority			17	32.8	N/A
Turnout			1,162	60.1	−7.0
	South African hold		Swing	+15.7

References

1. May, H.J. (1955). The South African Constitution. 3rd ed. Cape Town: Juta & Co.
2. "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
3. Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
4. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).