Ladismith (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Ladismith
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Cape of Good Hope
Electorate	3,029 (1929)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1933
Number of members	1
Last MHA	J. J. P. van Zyl (NP)

Ladismith was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1933. It covered a large rural area in the southern Karoo, centred on the town of Ladismith (not to be confused with the larger town of Ladysmith in Natal). 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

Ladismith was a marginal seat for most of its history, frequently changing hands between the South African and National parties. Its final MP, Johannes Jacobus Martinus van Zyl of the National Party, did not stand for re-election when the seat was abolished, but returned to parliament in 1938 as MP for Ceres, representing the Purified National Party.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	H. C. Becker	South African
	1915
	1918 by	J. J. M. van Zyl	National
	1920	P. J. Jordaan	South African
	1921
	1924	J. J. M. van Zyl	National
	1929
	1933	constituency abolished

^[2]

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Ladismith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	H. C. Becker	Unopposed
	South African win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Ladismith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	H. C. Becker	1,442	52.1	N/A
	National	J. J. M. van Zijl	1,302	47.0	New
	Labour	C. F. Marincowitz	26	0.9	New
Majority			140	5.1	N/A
Turnout			2,770	90.4	N/A
	South African hold		Swing	N/A

Ladismith by-election, 20 December 1918

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	J. J. M. van Zyl	1,469	55.1	+8.1
	South African	D. van V. Hofman	1,196	44.9	−7.2
Majority			273	10.2	N/A
Turnout			2,665	81.9	−8.5
	National gain from South African		Swing	+7.7

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Ladismith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	P. J. Jordaan	1,648	53.1	+1.0
	National	J. J. M. van Zyl	1,454	46.9	−0.1
Majority			140	6.2	+1.1
Turnout			3,102	88.3	−2.1
	South African hold		Swing	+0.6

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

General election 1921: Ladismith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	P. J. Jordaan	1,585	50.4	−2.7
	National	J. J. M. van Zyl	1,559	49.6	+2.7
Majority			26	0.8	−5.4
Turnout			3,144	86.6	−1.7
	South African hold		Swing	-2.7

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.