Fordsburg (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Last updated
Fordsburg
Former constituency
for the South African House of Assembly
Joburg-1910-Fordsburg.png
Location of Fordsburg within Johannesburg (1910)
Province Transvaal
Electorate9,313 (1943)
Former constituency
Created 1910
Abolished 1948
Number of members1
Last MHA  D. C. Burnside (Lab)

Fordsburg was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1948. It covered parts of the inner western suburbs of Johannesburg, centred on the suburb of Fordsburg. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal 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. 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

Fordsburg was a largely working-class seat, and was closely fought between the Labour Party and various non-socialist candidates. Its first MP was a young Patrick Duncan, later a cabinet minister under Jan Smuts and Governor-General for much of the Second World War. Its long-serving Nationalist MP, Jacobus Stephanus François Pretorius, followed J. B. M. Hertzog into the United Party in 1934, and was succeeded by party colleague Ben Schoeman (later a cabinet minister for the National Party) in 1938. In 1943, it was given to Labour as part of an electoral pact between them and the UP, and former Umbilo MP D. C. Burnside held the seat until its abolition in 1948.

Members

ElectionMemberParty
1910 Patrick Duncan Unionist
1915
1920 Morris Kentridge Labour
1921 J. S. F. Pretorius National
1924
1929
1933
1934 United
1938 Ben Schoeman
1943 D. C. Burnside Labour
1948 Constituency abolished

[2] [3]

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1910: Fordsburg
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Patrick Duncan 590 35.5 New
Het Volk F. E. T. Krause54432.7New
Labour W. H. Andrews52031.3New
Socialist A. Crawford80.5New
Majority 462.8N/A
Unionist win (new seat)
General election 1915: Fordsburg
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Patrick Duncan 724 45.9 +10.4
Labour D. Dingwell46529.4−1.9
National J. S. F. Pretorius39024.7New
Majority 25916.5N/A
Turnout 1,57971.4N/A
Unionist hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1920: Fordsburg
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Morris Kentridge 804 45.2 +15.8
National J. S. F. Pretorius59233.3+8.6
Unionist Patrick Duncan 36520.5−25.4
Independent H. M. Barendregt191.1New
Majority 21211.9N/A
Turnout 1,78053.2−18.2
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +20.6
General election 1921: Fordsburg
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National J. S. F. Pretorius 729 37.9 +4.6
Labour Morris Kentridge64733.6−11.6
South African H. H. McLean54928.5New
Majority 824.3N/A
Turnout 1,92555.9+2.7
National gain from Labour Swing +8.1

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).