Turffontein (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Turffontein
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Turffontein within the Witwatersrand (1981)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	25,138 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	André Fourie (NP)
Replaced by	Gauteng

Turffontein was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. It covered a part of the southern suburbs of Johannesburg centred on the suburb of Turffontein. 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

Turffontein was a socioeconomically mixed constituency that went through multiple different phases through its history. After Labour victories in 1920 and 1924, it became a safe United Party seat in the 1930s, with Frederick Sturrock representing the seat for over twenty years and serving in cabinet for a substantial part of that time. The UP continued to hold Turffontein for some time after Sturrock's retirement in 1950, the governing National Party only winning it in 1966 and the UP winning it back with André Fourie in 1970. Fourie had an unusual parliamentary career, losing his seat in 1974 to Marais Steyn of the NP, who had previously been an MP for the United Party before defecting in 1972 over disagreements with Harry Schwarz and the liberal wing of the party. Steyn was appointed ambassador to London in 1980, and was succeeded as MP for Turffontein by André Fourie, who had also defected to the NP in the meantime. Fourie remained the seat's MP until the end of apartheid, served a term in the non-racial National Assembly and finally represented Freedom Front Plus on the Cape Town City Council.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Hugh Wyndham	Unionist
	1915
	1920	G. B. Steer	Labour
	1921	E. W. Hunt	South African
	1924	A. C. Fordham	Labour
	1929	Frederick Sturrock	South African
	1933
	1934		United
	1938
	1943
	1948
	1950 by	R. B. Durrant
	1953
	1958
	1961
	1966	J. D. Smith	National
	1970	André Fourie	United
	1974	S. J. M. Steyn	National
	1977
	1981	André Fourie
	1987
	1989
	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 § Turffontein.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Turffontein

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hugh Wyndham	1,049	53.7	New
	Het Volk	R. H. Henderson	905	46.3	New
Majority			144	7.4	N/A
	Unionist win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Turffontein

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hugh Wyndham	1,374	54.3	+0.6
	Labour	G. B. Steer	807	31.9	New
	National	S. W. van Niekerk	348	13.8	New
Majority			567	22.4	N/A
Turnout			2,529	76.6	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Turffontein

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. B. Steer	831	41.0	+9.1
	Unionist	Hugh Wyndham	432	21.3	−33.0
	South African	E. W. Hunt	401	19.8	New
	National	J. H. L. Schumann	364	17.9	+4.1
Majority			399	19.7	N/A
Turnout			2,028	63.4	−13.2
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+21.1

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

General election 1921: Turffontein

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	E. W. Hunt	1,209	55.9	+36.1
	Labour	G. B. Steer	952	44.1	+3.1
Majority			257	11.8	N/A
Turnout			2,168	68.3	+4.9
	South African gain from Labour		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.