Humansdorp (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Humansdorp
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Cape of Good Hope
Electorate	17,816 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	(UP)
Replaced by	Eastern Cape

Humansdorp was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. It covered a rural area along the Indian Ocean coast, centred on the town of Humansdorp. 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

Like many constituencies in the rural Cape, the electorate of Humansdorp was largely Afrikaans-speaking and conservative, and with the exception of the inaugural Union election in 1910, the seat was held throughout its existence by the National Party. Its most prominent MP was Paul Sauer, who chaired the Sauer Commission which formulated many of the key policies of apartheid enacted by the post-1948 NP governments. Sauer retired in 1966, but his party colleagues continued to hold the seat by wide margins until the end of apartheid.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	J. H. Rademeyer	SAP
	1915	Charl W. Malan	National
	1920
	1921
	1924
	1929
	1933	Paul Sauer
	1934		GNP
	1938
	1943		HNP
	1948
	1953		National
	1958
	1961
	1966	G. F. Malan
	1970
	1974
	1977
	1981	W. D. Meyer
	1987
	1989
	1994	constituency abolished

^[2]

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Humansdorp

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	J. M. Rademeyer	1,168	54.3	New
	Ind. South African	J. A. L. de Waal	983	45.7	New
Majority			185	8.6	N/A
	South African win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Humansdorp

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Charl W. Malan	1,494	53.4	New
	South African	J. M. Rademeyer	1,302	46.6	−7.7
Majority			192	6.8	N/A
Turnout			2,796	92.2	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 § Humansdorp.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Humansdorp

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Charl W. Malan	1,687	58.9	+5.5
	South African	J. M. Rademeyer	1,175	41.1	−5.5
Majority			512	17.8	+11.0
Turnout			2,862	84.3	−7.9
	National hold		Swing	+5.5

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

General election 1921: Humansdorp

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Charl W. Malan	1,674	59.3	+0.4
	South African	J. M. Rademeyer	1,150	40.7	−0.4
Majority			512	18.6	+0.8
Turnout			2,824	62.0	−22.3
	National hold		Swing	+0.4

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.