Winburg (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Winburg
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Winburg within South Africa (1981)
Province	Orange Free State
Electorate	17,214 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	P. T. Steyn (NP)
Replaced by	Free State

Winburg was a constituency in the Orange Free State Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. Named after the town of Winburg, the seat covered a large rural area in the centre of the province. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly.

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 Orange River Colony, and its predecessor the Orange Free State, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Orange Free State 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

Winburg, like most of the Orange Free State, was a highly conservative seat throughout its existence and had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. It was an early stronghold of the National Party, and when Nationalist Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog joined forces with Jan Smuts to found the United Party in 1934, Winburg MP N. J. van der Merwe was one of the nineteen Nationalist MPs who broke away to form the Purified National Party under the leadership of D. F. Malan. It would continue to be represented by Nationalists throughout its existence, most notably by Charles Robberts Swart, who represented it from 1941 until his appointment as Governor-General in 1959.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	F. R. Cronjé	Orangia Unie
	1915	C. T. M. Wilcocks	National
	1920
	1921
	1924
	1929	N. J. van der Merwe
	1933
	1934		GNP
	1938
	1941 by	C. R. Swart	HNP
	1943
	1948
	1953		National
	1958
	1960 by	N. C. van R. Sadie
	1961
	1966
	1970	A. C. van Wyk
	1974
	1977	D. B. Scott
	1981
	1987	P. T. Steyn
	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 § Winburg.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Winburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Orangia Unie	F. R. Cronjé	Unopposed
	Orangia Unie win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Winburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	C. T. M. Wilcocks	1,155	62.4	New
	South African	F. R. Cronjé	695	37.6	N/A
Majority			460	24.8	N/A
Turnout			1,850	77.4	N/A
	National gain from South African		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Winburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	C. T. M. Wilcocks	1,369	68.3	+5.9
	South African	G. R. Theron	636	31.7	−5.9
Majority			460	36.6	+11.8
Turnout			2,005	69.3	−8.1
	National hold		Swing	+5.9

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

General election 1921: Winburg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	C. T. M. Wilcocks	1,381	69.7	+1.4
	South African	F. R. Cronjé	599	30.3	−1.4
Majority			782	39.4	+2.8
Turnout			1,980	65.7	−3.6
	National hold		Swing	+1.4

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.