Potchefstroom (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Potchefstroom
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Potchefstroom within South Africa (1981)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	23,083 (1992 by)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	A. S. Beyers (CP)
Replaced by	North West

Potchefstroom was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. It covered a part of the western Transvaal centred on the town of Potchefstroom. 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

Like most of the rural Transvaal, Potchefstroom had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. In its early days, it was a marginal seat, seeing tight contests between the National and South African parties, before going through a brief period of United Party dominance in the 1930s and 40s. In 1948, it was captured by Johan Heinrich Steyn of the Afrikaner Party, who soon joined the governing National Party - from then on, it became a safe seat for the NP. Its longest-serving MP, Louis le Grange, was first elected in 1966, and served as a cabinet minister under John Vorster and P. W. Botha before being made Speaker of the House of Assembly in 1987. He died in office in 1991, and the resulting by-election was won by the Conservative Party - coming shortly before the referendum on ending apartheid, this was seen as a major setback for the governing party.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	J. A. Neser	Het Volk
	1915	G. W. Holl	South African
	1915 by	N. J. de Wet
	1920
	1921	J. G. Obermeyer	National
	1924	M. L. Fick
	1929
	1933
	1934		United
	1938	Hubert van der Merwe
	1943
	1948	J. H. Steyn	Afrikaner
	1953		National
	1958
	1961
	1966	Louis le Grange
	1970
	1974
	1977
	1981
	1987
	1989
	1992 by	A. S. Beyers	Conservative
	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 § Potchefstroom.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Potchefstroom

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Het Volk	J. A. Neser	1,260	73.3	New
	Unionist	R. J. E. Orpen	458	26.7	New
Majority			802	46.6	N/A
	Het Volk win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Potchefstroom

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	G. W. Holl	1,043	56.8	−16.5
	National	W. J. de Klerk	794	43.2	New
Majority			249	13.6	N/A
Turnout			1,837	82.5	N/A
	South African hold		Swing	N/A

Potchefstroom by-election, 1 November 1915 ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	N. J. de Wet	1,060	59.7	+2.9
	National	C. L. Olen	716	40.3	−2.9
Majority			344	19.4	+5.8
Turnout			1,776	79.7	−2.8
	South African hold		Swing	+2.9

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Potchefstroom

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	N. J. de Wet	1,127	51.2	−5.6
	National	J. G. Obermeyer	1,074	48.8	+5.6
Majority			53	2.4	−11.2
Turnout			2,201	69.8	−12.7
	South African hold		Swing	-5.6

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

General election 1921: Potchefstroom

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	J. G. Obermeyer	1,319	51.0	+2.2
	South African	N. J. de Wet	1,269	49.0	−2.2
Majority			50	2.0	N/A
Turnout			2,588	73.6	+3.8
	National gain from South African		Swing	+2.2

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

General election 1924: Potchefstroom

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	M. L. Fick	1,275	52.6	+1.6
	South African	H. van der Merwe	1,146	47.2	−1.8
Rejected ballots			5	0.2	N/A
Majority			129	5.4	+3.4
Turnout			2,426	88.4	+14.8
	National hold		Swing	+1.7

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

General election 1929: Potchefstroom

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	M. L. Fick	1,385	52.8	+0.2
	South African	B. D. Pienaar	1,228	46.8	−0.4
Rejected ballots			12	0.4	+0.2
Majority			157	6.0	+0.6
Turnout			2,625	87.1	−1.3
	National hold		Swing	+0.3

Elections in the 1930s

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

General election 1933: Potchefstroom

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	M. L. Fick	2,741	53.5	+0.7
	Independent	G. Fleischack	2,333	45.6	New
Rejected ballots			47	0.9	+0.5
Majority			408	8.0	N/A
Turnout			5,121	75.5	−11.6
	National hold		Swing	N/A

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

General election 1938: Potchefstroom

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Hubert van der Merwe	3,217	61.0	+7.5
	Purified National	W. J. de Klerk	2,032	38.5	New
Rejected ballots			23	0.5	-0.4
Majority			1,185	22.5	N/A
Turnout			5,272	84.7	+9.2
	United 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. 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.