Griqualand East (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Griqualand East
Griekwaland-Oos
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Cape of Good Hope
Electorate	7,226 (1943)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1948
Number of members	1
Last MHA	R. M. Fawcett (UP)
Replaced by	Transkeian Territories

Griqualand East (Afrikaans: Griekwaland-Oos), known simply as Griqualand (Afrikaans: Griekwaland) for part of its history, was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1948. It covered the area of the Cape east of the Mthatha River, and was largely coterminous with its namesake former colony. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Cape 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. 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

Griqualand East’s electorate, as with most of the Eastern Cape, was largely English-speaking and loyal to the pro-British side of South African politics. With the exception of the 1933 election, in which incumbent MP L. D. Gilson lost the seat to an independent challenger, the main pro-British party in South Africa (first the Unionists, then the SAP, and after Gilson’s return to the seat in 1938, the United Party) held Griqualand East in every election in which it was contested. When it was abolished in 1948, Griqualand East was largely replaced by the new seat of Transkeian Territories, which continued to be held by the UP throughout its existence.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	J. G. King	Unionist
	1915
	1920
	1921		SAP
	1924	L. D. Gilson
	1929
	1933	C. W. Gray	Independent
	1938	L. D. Gilson	United
	1943	R. M. Fawcett
	1948	constituency abolished

^[2]

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Griqualand

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	J. G. King	877	56.5	New
	Independent	C. E. Todd	675	43.5	New
Majority			202	13.0	N/A
	Unionist win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Griqualand

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	J. G. King	1,718	84.2	+27.7
	National	A. van Zijl	323	15.8	New
Majority			1,395	68.4	N/A
Turnout			2,041	64.8	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 § Griqualand.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Griqualand

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	J. G. King	941	50.8	−33.4
	South African	C. E. Todd	912	49.2	New
Majority			29	1.6	N/A
Turnout			1,853	54.6	−10.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

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

General election 1921: Griqualand

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	J. G. King	1,731	79.0	+29.8
	National	T. I. Gavett	459	21.0	New
Majority			1,272	58.0	N/A
Turnout			2,190	62.3	+7.7
	South African hold		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.