Swellendam (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Swellendam
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Swellendam within South Africa (1981)
Province	Cape of Good Hope
Electorate	13,830 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Nic Koornhof (NP)
Replaced by	Western Cape

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

Swellendam, 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 first Nationalist MP, future Chief Justice Henry Allan Fagan, followed his mentor J. B. M. Hertzog into the United Party in 1934, then moved to nearby Stellenbosch to seek election there in 1938. In that year, Swellendam was picked up by S. E. Warren for the Purified National Party, and the NP would hold it until the end of apartheid. Its last MP, Nic Koornhof, would stay in politics until 2019, changing parties several times and eventually ending up representing the ANC in the National Assembly.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	J. W. van Eeden	South African
	1915
	1920
	1921
	1924	Eli Buirski
	1929
	1933	Henry Allan Fagan	National
	1934		United
	1938	S. E. Warren	GNP
	1943		HNP
	1948
	1953	I. W. J. van der Vyver	National
	1958
	1961	F. J. van Eeden
	1966	J. J. Malan
	1970
	1974
	1977
	1978 by	A. Geldenhuys
	1981
	1987	Nic Koornhof
	1989
	1994	constituency abolished

^{[2] [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 § Swellendam.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Swellendam

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	J. W. van Eeden	Unopposed
	South African win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Swellendam

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	J. W. van Eeden	1,895	68.7	N/A
	National	N. J. Ackermann	864	31.3	New
Majority			1,031	37.4	N/A
Turnout			2,759	85.3	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 § Swellendam.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Swellendam

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	J. W. van Eeden	1,563	60.2	−8.5
	National	J. H. Coetzee	1,011	38.9	+7.6
	Independent	W. C. Hugo	22	0.8	New
Majority			552	21.3	−16.1
Turnout			2,596	74.9	−10.4
	South African hold		Swing	-8.1

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

General election 1921: Swellendam

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	J. W. van Eeden	1,583	58.1	−2.1
	National	J. H. Coetzee	1,141	41.9	+3.0
Majority			442	16.2	−5.1
Turnout			2,724	76.8	+1.9
	South African hold		Swing	-2.6

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.