Langlaagte (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Langlaagte
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Langlaagte within the Witwatersrand (1981)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	19,586 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	J. J. Vilonel (NP)
Replaced by	Gauteng

Langlaagte was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. It covered a part of the inner western suburbs of Johannesburg, centred on the suburb of Langlaagte. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal 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. 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

Langlaagte was a largely working-class constituency, and followed the general trend of such areas across South Africa's major cities. In its early years, it was a marginal seat, with John Christie of the Labour Party and William Bawden of the South African Party fighting a number of spirited contests. Bawden went on to hold the seat throughout the 1930s, switching to the United Party on that party's formation, and the UP held it until 1953, at which point it fell to the governing National Party. Over time it became more and more of a safe seat for the NP, which held it until the end of apartheid in spite of challenges from the Conservative Party in its later years.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Willie Rockey	Unionist
	1915
	1920
	1921	John Christie	Labour
	1924
	1929 by	William Bawden	South African
	1929	John Christie	Labour
	1933	William Bawden	South African
	1934		United
	1938
	1943
	1947 by	A. E. P. Robinson
	1948
	1953	P. J. Coetzee	National
	1958
	1961
	1966	A. L. Raubenheimer
	1970	P. Z. J. van Vuuren
	1974	S. D. Barnard
	1977
	1981
	1987	J. J. Vilonel
	1989
	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 § Langlaagte.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Langlaagte

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Willie Rockey	945	56.8	New
	Labour	W. J. Wybergh	718	43.2	New
Majority			227	13.6	N/A
	Unionist win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Langlaagte

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Willie Rockey	794	47.0	−9.8
	National	D. S. H. Pollock	560	33.1	New
	Labour	C. S. Raath	260	15.4	−27.8
	Independent	J. A. Clark	77	4.6	New
Majority			234	13.9	N/A
Turnout			1,691	73.5	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Langlaagte

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Willie Rockey	752	40.0	−7.0
	Labour	C. S. Raath	649	34.5	+19.1
	National	D. S. H. Pollock	479	25.5	−7.6
Majority			103	5.5	N/A
Turnout			1,880	61.7	−11.8
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

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

General election 1921: Langlaagte

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Christie	1,036	52.4	+17.9
	South African	Willie Rockey	940	47.6	+7.6
Majority			96	4.8	N/A
Turnout			1,976	62.6	+0.9
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.2

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1924 South African general election § Langlaagte.[ edit ]

General election 1924: Langlaagte

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Christie	1,333	54.8	+2.4
	South African	Willam Bawden	1,090	44.8	−2.8
Rejected ballots			11	0.4	N/A
Majority			243	10.0	+5.2
Turnout			2,434	81.2	+18.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.6

Langlaagte by-election, 8 January 1929

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Willam Bawden	1,170	56.2	+11.4
	Labour	John Christie	895	43.0	−11.8
Rejected ballots			16	0.8	+0.4
Majority			275	13.2	N/A
Turnout			2,081	66.5	−14.7
	South African gain from Labour		Swing	+11.6

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1929 South African general election § Langlaagte.[ edit ]

General election 1929: Langlaagte

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour (Creswell)	John Christie	1,135	51.3	-3.5
	South African	Willam Bawden	1,064	48.1	+3.3
Rejected ballots			15	0.6	+0.2
Majority			71	3.2	−6.8
Turnout			2,214	78.5	−2.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.4

Elections in the 1930s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1933 South African general election § Langlaagte.[ edit ]

General election 1933: Langlaagte

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Willam Bawden	2,175	51.7	+3.6
	Labour (Creswell)	John Christie	1,985	47.2	−4.1
Rejected ballots			45	1.1	+0.5
Majority			190	4.5	N/A
Turnout			4,205	67.8	−10.7
	South African gain from Labour		Swing	+3.9

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1938 South African general election § Langlaagte.[ edit ]

General election 1938: Langlaagte

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Willam Bawden	2,631	48.8	−2.9
	Labour	John Christie	1,963	36.4	−10.8
	Purified National	W. P. Thorn	571	10.6	New
	Independent	J. R. Hull	190	3.5	New
Rejected ballots			33	0.7	-0.4
Majority			668	12.4	+7.9
Turnout			5,388	72.4	+4.6
	United hold		Swing	+4.0

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.