Soutpansberg (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Soutpansberg
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Soutpansberg within South Africa (1981)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	18,753 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Thomas Langley (CP)
Replaced by	Limpopo

Soutpansberg, also spelled Zoutpansberg early in its history, was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. It covered the Soutpansberg region of far-northern Transvaal, close to the Limpopo River and the border with Zimbabwe. 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

Soutpansberg, like most of the rural Transvaal, had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate and was a conservative seat throughout its existence. Its first MP, Hendrik Mentz, was a former Boer soldier and ally of Louis Botha who served in cabinet for most of his time as an MP. In 1924, he was defeated for re-election by Oswald Pirow of the National Party, who would go on to become one of the leading ideologues of that party, but he only represented Soutpansberg for five years, opting instead to (unsuccessfully) challenge Jan Smuts in his seat of Standerton in 1929. In the 1930s, the South African and National parties fused into the United Party, and Soutpansberg was held by the new party until its nationwide electoral defeat in 1948.

From then on, Soutpansberg would be a safe Nationalist seat. Its longest-serving MP, Stephanus Petrus "Fanie" Botha, served in cabinet under John Vorster and P. W. Botha, resigning in disgrace in 1983 after it was revealed that he'd taken money from Israel. The resulting by-election was won by the nascent Conservative Party - the first electoral victory for that party, which had formed less than two years earlier, and which would see much success in the rural Transvaal as the NP moved away from unconditional white supremacy. Thomas Langley, the Conservative MP elected in 1984, would represent Soutpansberg until the end of apartheid.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Hendrik Mentz	Het Volk
	1915		South African
	1920
	1921
	1924	Oswald Pirow	National
	1929	W. H. Vorster
	1933	E. A. Rooth
	1934		United
	1938
	1943	S. A. Cilliers
	1948	J. J. F. van Schoor	HNP
	1952 by	E. J. Smit	National
	1953
	1958	S. P. Botha
	1961
	1966
	1970
	1974
	1977
	1981
	1984 by	Thomas Langley	Conservative
	1987
	1989
	1994	Constituency abolished

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

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Soutpansberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Het Volk	Hendrik Mentz	Unopposed
	Het Volk win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Soutpansberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Hendrik Mentz	1,188	54.6	N/A
	National	F. W. Beyers	987	45.4	New
Majority			201	9.2	N/A
Turnout			2,175	78.2	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 § Soutpansberg.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Soutpansberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Hendrik Mentz	988	57.7	+3.1
	National	Oswald Pirow	725	42.3	−3.1
Majority			263	15.4	+6.2
Turnout			1,713	62.9	−15.3
	South African hold		Swing	+3.1

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

General election 1921: Soutpansberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Hendrik Mentz	997	54.5	−3.2
	National	Oswald Pirow	833	45.5	+3.2
Majority			164	9.0	−6.4
Turnout			1,830	61.4	−1.5
	South African hold		Swing	-3.2

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

General election 1924: Soutpansberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Oswald Pirow	1,153	55.2	+9.7
	South African	Hendrik Mentz	927	44.4	−10.1
Rejected ballots			10	0.4	N/A
Majority			226	10.8	N/A
Turnout			2,090	80.6	+19.2
	National hold		Swing	+9.9

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

General election 1929: Soutpansberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	W. H. Vorster	1,083	53.7	−1.5
	South African	J. R. van Breda	914	45.3	+0.9
Rejected ballots			20	1.0	+0.6
Majority			169	8.4	−2.4
Turnout			2,017	77.8	−2.8
	National hold		Swing	-1.2

Elections in the 1930s

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

General election 1933: Soutpansberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	E. A. Rooth	2,672	85.5	+31.8
	Independent	W. H. Vorster	419	13.4	New
Rejected ballots			34	0.7	-0.3
Majority			2,253	72.1	N/A
Turnout			3,125	63.6	−14.2
	National hold		Swing	N/A

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

General election 1938: Soutpansberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	E. A. Rooth	2,386	57.8	−27.7
	Purified National	S. W. Spies	1,686	40.8	New
Rejected ballots			56	1.4	+0.7
Majority			700	17.0	N/A
Turnout			4,128	79.9	+16.3
	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. South Africa 1980/81: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
4. South Africa 1983: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
5. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 10751. 22 May 1987. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
6. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12109. 20 September 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.