Stellenbosch (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Last updated
Stellenbosch
Former constituency
for the South African House of Assembly
SA-1981-Stellenbosch.png
Location of Stellenbosch within South Africa (1981)
Province Cape of Good Hope
Electorate13,830 (1989)
Former constituency
Created 1910
Abolished 1994
Number of members1
Last MHA  Piet Marais (NP)
Replaced by Western Cape

Stellenbosch was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. The constituency covered a part of the Boland region centred on the university town of Stellenbosch. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Cape 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. 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

Stellenbosch, like the rest of the Western Cape, started out as a safe seat for the South African Party and over time gradually became a safe seat for the National Party. Its most notable early MP was John X. Merriman, the last Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, who notably had fought to apply the Cape Qualified Franchise across South Africa, and was one of few MPs to vote against the Natives Land Act, 1913. Merriman was in his seventies by the time he represented Stellenbosch, and stood down at the 1924 election, but the SAP continued to hold the seat for one more term before losing it to the NP in 1929. Bruckner de Villiers, Stellenbosch’s first Nationalist MP, was among the 19 Nationalists who joined D. F. Malan’s Purified National Party, but this was evidently a bridge too far for Stellenbosch’s electorate, who narrowly elected United Party candidate Henry Allan Fagan over him in 1938.

Fagan, a protégé of J. B. M. Hertzog, followed Hertzog back into the National Party when South Africa entered the Second World War, and from then on, Stellenbosch would consistently be held by the NP. Its longest-serving MP, Hennie Smit (not to be confused with the later George MP of the same name), served in the cabinets of John Vorster and P. W. Botha, and was known as a verlig (moderate) NP member. He resigned from the House in 1982 to take up a post on the newly-created President's Council, and was replaced by fellow moderate Piet Marais, who served as Minister of Education under F. W. de Klerk and was involved in the drafting of the post-apartheid constitution.

Members

ElectionMemberParty
1910 J. H. Marais South African
1915 John X. Merriman
1920
1921
1924 J. P. Louw
1929 W. B. de Villiers National
1933
1934 GNP
1938 Henry Allan Fagan United
1939 HNP
1943 Karl Bremer
1948 Paul Roos
1948 byJ. A. Loubser
1953 Otto du Plessis National
1958
1961 H. H. Smit
1966
1970
1974
1977
1981
1982 by Piet Marais
1987
1989
1994 constituency abolished

[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1910: Stellenbosch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African J. H. Marais 1,134 53.7 New
Ind. South African W. A. Krige97646.3New
Majority 1587.4N/A
South African win (new seat)
General election 1915: Stellenbosch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African John X. Merriman 1,674 66.2 +12.5
National C. L. Marais85633.8New
Majority 81832.4N/A
Turnout 2,53087.4N/A
South African hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1920: Stellenbosch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African John X. Merriman 1,810 62.5 −3.7
National P. de Waal99634.4+0.6
Independent P. B. Smith923.2New
Majority 81428.1−4.3
Turnout 2,89876.3−11.1
South African hold Swing -2.2
General election 1921: Stellenbosch
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African John X. Merriman Unopposed
South African hold

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.