Witbank (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Witbank
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of Witbank within South Africa (1981)
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	26,190 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1920
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	W. J. D. van Wyk (CP)
Replaced by	Mpumalanga

Witbank was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1920 to 1994. Named after the town of Witbank, it covered a rural area in the eastern Transvaal. 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

Like most of the rural Transvaal, Witbank was a conservative seat and had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. It was generally a safe seat for the National Party, with two major exceptions: the 1934-48 period, when the United Party was dominant throughout the province, and after 1987, when the Conservative Party took advantage of rural white discontent with P. W. Botha's policy of limited reform to take over a number of rural seats, including Witbank.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1920	A. I. E. de Villiers	National
	1921
	1924
	1929	G. T. Robertson
	1933	S. P. Bekker
	1934 by	J. T. Bezuidenhout
	1934		United
	1938
	1943	H. J. Bekker
	1948	D. J. J. Mostert	HNP
	1953		National
	1958
	1961
	1966	T. N. H. Janson
	1970
	1974
	1977
	1981	A. F. Fouché
	1987	W. J. D. van Wyk	Conservative
	1989
	1994	Constituency abolished

^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Witbank

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	A. I. E. de Villiers	970	49.9	New
	South African	R. Eadie	726	37.4	New
	Labour	G. H. Kretzschmer	246	12.7	New
Majority			244	12.5	N/A
Turnout			1,942	65.2	N/A
	National win (new seat)

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

General election 1921: Witbank

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	A. I. E. de Villiers	1,059	52.6	+2.7
	South African	H. du Toit	956	47.4	+10.0
Majority			103	5.2	−7.3
Turnout			2,015	63.1	−2.1
	National win (new seat)

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.