Uitenhage (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Last updated
Uitenhage
Former constituency
for the South African House of Assembly
SA-1981-Uitenhage.png
Location of Uitenhage within South Africa (1981)
Province Cape of Good Hope
Electorate16,280 (1989)
Former constituency
Created 1910
Abolished 1994
Number of members1
Last MHA  Willem Botha (CP)
Replaced by Eastern Cape

Uitenhage was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. The constituency covered a part of the Eastern Cape centred on the town of Uitenhage (since renamed Kariega). 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

Unlike most of the Eastern Cape, Uitenhage had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate, and tended to vote more like its neighbours to the north and west than the ones to its east. It was held by the South African Party throughout that party's existence, and in 1934, its MP Gordon Dolley followed the SAP majority into the United Party. Dolley continued to hold the seat in the face of stronger and stronger National Party challenges, until it fell to the NP-allied Afrikaner Party in 1948, that party's only seat in the Cape Province. This would be echoed in the last whites-only election in 1989, in which Uitenhage was one of only two Cape seats (along with Kuruman) to be won by the pro-apartheid Conservative Party. Its last MP, Willem Botha, stood for re-election to the non-racial parliament in 1994 as a member of the Freedom Front.

Members

ElectionMemberParty
1910 H. E. S. Fremantle South African
1915 A. H. Garcia
1920 W. R. Burch
1921
1923 byF. T. Bates
1924
1929
1933
1934 byGordon Dolley
1934 United
1938
1943
1948 D. G. Conradie Afrikaner
1951 National
1953
1958 F. H. Badenhorst
1961
1965 byJ. G. Swiegers
1966
1970
1974
1977
1981 D. E. T. le Roux
1987
1989 Willem Botha Conservative
1994 constituency abolished

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

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1910: Uitenhage
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African H. E. S. Fremantle 1,139 55.4 New
Unionist C. W. Mackay91744.6New
Majority 22210.8N/A
South African win (new seat)
General election 1915: Uitenhage
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African A. H. Garcia 1,646 60.8 +5.4
National H. E. S. Fremantle1,06139.2New
Majority 58521.6N/A
Turnout 2,70786.1N/A
South African hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1920: Uitenhage
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African W. R. Burch 1,679 53.2 −7.6
National H. E. S. Fremantle1,47846.8+7.6
Majority 2016.4−15.2
Turnout 3,15781.6−4.5
South African hold Swing -7.6
General election 1921: Uitenhage
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African W. R. Burch 2,046 56.9 +3.7
National O. A. Oosthuizen1,55143.1−3.7
Majority 49513.8+7.4
Turnout 3,59779.7−1.9
South African hold Swing +3.7

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.