Malmesbury (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Malmesbury
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Malmesbury within South Africa (1981)
Province	Cape of Good Hope
Electorate	20,633 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	G. J. Kotzé (NP)
Replaced by	Western Cape

Malmesbury was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. Named after the town of Malmesbury, the seat covered much of the Swartland region of the Western Cape. 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

Malmesbury’s first MP, François Stephanus Malan, was a veteran of Cape Colony politics, and served as a cabinet minister under Louis Botha and Jan Smuts. When Smuts’ government was defeated in the 1924 general election, Malan lost his seat, and with a brief interlude during Smuts’ second government in the 1940s, Malmesbury would remain a safe seat for the National Party for the remainder of its existence. Its last MP, Gert Kotzé, served as a cabinet minister under P. W. Botha and F. W. de Klerk.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	F. S. Malan	SAP
	1915
	1920
	1921
	1924	P. A. Bergh	National
	1929
	1933
	1934		United
	1938	S. M. Loubser	GNP
	1943	J. C. Bosman	United
	1948	S. M. Loubser	HNP
	1953		National
	1958	J. W. van Staden
	1961
	1966
	1970
	1972 by	E. Louw
	1974	G. J. Kotzé
	1977
	1981
	1987
	1989
	1994	constituency abolished

^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Malmesbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	F. S. Malan	Unopposed
	South African win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Malmesbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	F. S. Malan	1,519	57.5	N/A
	National	A. P. W. Immelman	1,125	42.5	New
Majority			394	15.0	N/A
Turnout			2,644	88.4	N/A
	South African hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Malmesbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	F. S. Malan	1,700	56.8	−0.7
	Independent	J. G. van der Horst	1,292	43.2	New
Majority			408	13.6	N/A
Turnout			2,992	81.2	−7.2
	South African hold		Swing	N/A

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

General election 1921: Malmesbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	F. S. Malan	1,756	55.1	−1.7
	National	S. F. Malan	1,431	44.9	New
Majority			325	10.2	N/A
Turnout			3,187	83.9	+1.7
	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.
3. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 6705. 19 October 1979. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
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.
8. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12206. 8 December 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.