Pretoria West (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Pretoria West
Pretoria-Wes
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Pretoria West within Pretoria (1910)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	23,906 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Joseph Chiolé (CP)
Replaced by	Gauteng

Pretoria West (Afrikaans: Pretoria-Wes) was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. It covered the western parts of Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa. 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

As initially created, Pretoria West covered the western half of its namesake city, and was a stronghold of the South African Party. This was partly due to the fact that its first MP was South African War hero, future SAP leader and twice Prime Minister, Jan Smuts. Smuts was re-elected three times by strong margins, however, his personal unpopularity following the Rand Rebellion led to his defeat, both nationally and in his own seat, by a coalition of the National and Labour parties. As a result, for the five years between 1924 and 1929, Pretoria West became the only Pretoria seat ever to have been held by Labour. This didn't last – in 1929, with the Labour Party in a state of civil war over its participation in government, Labour MP George Hay stood down and the seat was taken by the Nationalists.

With the exception of 1938 and 1943, when the United Party dominated across the Transvaal, Pretoria West would now be an NP seat. Over time, it became an extremely safe one, and when it began to be seriously contested again, it was by the far-right Conservative Party. Its final MP, Conservative Joseph Chiolé, remained active in right-wing politics following the end of apartheid, first as a member of the Freedom Front and then of the Herstigte Nasionale Party. ^[2]

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Jan Smuts	South African
	1915
	1920
	1921
	1924	G. A. Hay	Labour
	1929	M. S. W. du Toit	National
	1933
	1934		United
	1938	Izaak Wallach
	1943	Frank Hopf
	1948	D. P. van Heerden	HNP
	1953	Barend van der Walt	National
	1958
	1961
	1966
	1968 by	R. J. J. Pieterse
	1970
	1974
	1975 by	Z. P. le Roux
	1977
	1981
	1987
	1989	Joseph Chiolé	Conservative
	1994	constituency abolished

^{[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 § Pretoria West.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Pretoria West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Het Volk	Jan Smuts	999	51.4	New
	Unionist	F. Hopley	644	33.1	New
	Labour	J. Reid	228	11.7	New
	Independent	H. R. Abercrombie	74	3.8	New
Majority			355	18.3	N/A
	Het Volk win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Pretoria West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Jan Smuts	1,102	50.0	−1.4
	National	H. Reitz	808	36.7	New
	Labour	G. H. McLean	293	13.3	+1.6
Majority			294	13.3	N/A
Turnout			2,203	80.8	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 § Pretoria West.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Pretoria West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Jan Smuts	1,720	68.8	+18.8
	National	J. H. Schoeman	473	18.9	−17.8
	Labour	G. H. McLean	303	12.1	−1.2
	Independent	G. H. McLean	4	0.2	New
Majority			1,247	49.9	+36.6
Turnout			2,500	66.4	−16.4
	South African hold		Swing	+18.3

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

General election 1921: Pretoria West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Jan Smuts	1,403	71.3	+3.5
	National	S. J. Eloff	531	27.0	+8.1
	Independent	P. M. van der Westhuizen	35	1.8	New
Majority			872	44.3	−5.6
Turnout			1,969	48.5	−17.9
	South African hold		Swing	-2.8

References

1. "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
2. "DA member jumps ship to ANC". The Mail & Guardian. 2003-03-21. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
3. Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
4. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).
5. South Africa 1980/81: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
6. South Africa 1983: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
7. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 10751. 22 May 1987. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
8. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12109. 20 September 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.