Marico (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Last updated
Marico
Former constituency
for the South African House of Assembly
Province Transvaal
Electorate11,197 (1977)
Former constituency
Created 1910
Abolished 1981
Number of members1
Last MHA  L. M. Theunissen (NP)
Replaced by Lichtenburg

Marico was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1974. Named after the Marico River and/or the village of Groot Marico, it covered a rural area in the western Transvaal. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal Provincial Council.

Contents

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

Like most of the rural Transvaal, Marico had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. In its first iteration, it was a marginal seat with a slight lean towards the South African Party, whose leader Jan Smuts was popular in the Transvaal. Its first MP, Lodewijk Arnoldus Slabbert Lemmer, stood down in 1924, and at that election the seat was won by Johannes Jacobus Pienaar for the National Party. Pienaar followed J. B. M. Hertzog into the United Party in 1934, and held his seat in 1938, but left parliament shortly after the election. The resulting by-election was won by Reformed Church minister Charl Wynand Markelbach du Toit for the Purified National Party, the faction of the NP that had rejected the UP merger. From that point on, Marico was a Nationalist seat, though not a truly safe one until the UP decline of the 1950s. It was abolished in 1981, at which point most of it became part of the Lichtenburg constituency.

Members

ElectionMemberParty
1910 L. A. S. Lemmer Het Volk
1915 South African
1920
1921
1924 J. J. Pienaar National
1929
1933
1934 United
1938
1938 byC. W. M. du Toit GNP
1943 D. C. S. Grobler HNP
1948
1953 J. A. de Kock National
1958 M. S. F. Grobler
1961
1966
1970
1974
1977 L. M. Theunissen
1981 Constituency abolished

[2] [3] [4]

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1910: Marico
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Het Volk L. A. S. Lemmer 844 83.1 New
Independent J. W. Viljoen17216.9New
Majority 67266.2N/A
Het Volk win (new seat)
General election 1915: Marico
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African L. A. S. Lemmer 1,194 63.1 −20.0
National G. I. M. Wolmarans69836.9New
Majority 49626.2N/A
Turnout 1,89274.5N/A
South African hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1920: Marico
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African L. A. S. Lemmer 1,126 51.4 −11.7
National A. W. de Waal1,06448.6+11.7
Majority 622.8−23.4
Turnout 2,19074.9+0.4
South African hold Swing -11.7
General election 1921: Marico
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African L. A. S. Lemmer 1,211 50.0 −1.4
National A. W. de Waal1,21150.0+1.4
Majority 00.0−2.8
Turnout 2,42276.1+1.2
South African hold Swing -1.4
Election decided by lot.

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.