Fauresmith (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Fauresmith
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Fauresmith within South Africa (1981)
Province	Orange Free State
Electorate	10,597 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Inus Aucamp (NP)
Replaced by	Free State

Fauresmith, known as Fauresmith-Boshof between 1953 and 1966, was a constituency in the Orange Free State Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. Named after the town of Fauresmith, the seat covered a large rural area in the west of the province, bordering the Cape Province. 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. In the Orange River Colony, and its predecessor the Orange Free State, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Orange Free State 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

Fauresmith, like most of the Orange Free State, was a highly conservative seat throughout its existence and had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. Its most notable MP, Nicolaas Havenga, was first elected in 1915 for the fledgling National Party, and became one of that party's leading policy experts during the 1920s and 30s. Havenga was a close ally of J. B. M. Hertzog, serving in cabinet under him, and when Hertzog joined forces with Jan Smuts and the SAP to create the United Party, Havenga stuck with the new party. He was able to hold his seat in 1938, defeating F. W. Beyers in a close race, but would soon get overtaken by events. When South Africa declared war on Germany in 1939, Hertzog broke with the government, and many of his supporters rejoined the National Party under D. F. Malan's leadership. Havenga, however, had serious disagreements with Malan and declined to join his party, instead forming the Afrikaner Party as a more moderate Afrikaner nationalist force. He resigned from parliament in 1940, and when he returned it was for a different constituency. Instead, Fauresmith was taken by Eben Dönges, a Malan ally who would go on to be one of the architects of apartheid.

Dönges moved to the Cape seat of Worcester in 1948, but the NP would continue to hold Fauresmith for the remainder of the seat's existence. It went unopposed through the 1960s, and in the 1970s and 80s its MPs faced mainly Herstigte and Conservative opposition - unlike many rural Free State seats, however, neither party ever took the seat.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	C. T. M. Wilcocks	Orangia Unie
	1915	Nicolaas Havenga	National
	1920
	1921
	1924
	1929
	1933
	1934		United
	1938
	1940		Afrikaner
	1941 by	Eben Dönges	HNP
	1943
	1948	J. J. Serfontein
	1953		National
	1958
	1961
	1966	C. V. van der Merwe
	1970
	1974
	1977	P. J. S. Olivier
	1981
	1987
	1989	Inus Aucamp
	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 § Fauresmith.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Fauresmith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Orangia Unie	C. T. M. Wilcocks	Unopposed
	Orangia Unie win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Fauresmith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Nicolaas Havenga	793	52.4	New
	South African	S. J. van der Merwe	721	47.6	N/A
Majority			72	4.8	N/A
Turnout			1,514	66.0	N/A
	National gain from South African		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Fauresmith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Nicolaas Havenga	1,441	69.5	+17.1
	South African	H. F. D. Papenfus	633	30.5	−17.1
Majority			808	39.0	N/A
Turnout			2,074	71.2	N/A
	National hold		Swing	+17.1

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

General election 1921: Fauresmith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Nicolaas Havenga	1,476	74.1	+4.6
	South African	N. F. van der Merwe	515	25.9	−4.6
Majority			961	48.2	+9.2
Turnout			1,991	66.3	−4.9
	National hold		Swing	+4.6

References

1. "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
2. 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.