Witwatersberg (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Witwatersberg
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	18,144 (1977)
Former constituency
Created	1915 1974
Abolished	1929 1981
Number of members	1
Last MHA	J. C. B. Schoeman (NP)

Witwatersberg was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1915 to 1929 and again from 1974 to 1981. It covered a rural area around the Witwatersberg mountains, adjacent to the Witwatersrand. 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, Witwatersberg was a conservative seat with a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. It existed in two relatively brief iterations, and each time was only represented by a single MP. Nicolaas Jacobus Pretorius, its MP for the first iteration, was a member of the South African Party and fought off a series of National Party challenges, including one case in 1921 where the two candidates tied and Pretorius won the seat by drawing lots. He retired from parliament on the seat's abolition in 1929.

By the time the seat was recreated in 1974, the NP was South Africa's dominant party, and Witwatersberg was a safe seat for it. Its sole MP for this iteration, Johannes Cornelius Bothma Schoeman, moved to the recreated seat of North Rand in 1981.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1915	N. J. Pretorius	South African
	1920
	1921
	1924
	1929	Constituency abolished

Election		Member	Party
	1974	J. C. B. Schoeman	National
	1977
	1981	Constituency abolished

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

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1915: Witwatersberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	N. J. Pretorius	1,176	53.0	N/A
	National	F. G. A. Wolmarans	1,041	47.0	New
Majority			135	6.0	N/A
Turnout			2,217	78.5	N/A
	South African win (new seat)

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Witwatersberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	N. J. Pretorius	895	50.4	−2.6
	National	T. C. Stoggberg	881	49.6	+2.6
Majority			14	0.8	−5.2
Turnout			1,776	68.7	−9.8
	South African hold		Swing	-2.6

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

General election 1921: Witwatersberg

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	N. J. Pretorius	943	50.0	−0.4
	National	S. F. Alberts	943	50.0	+0.4
Majority			0	0.0	−0.8
Turnout			1,886	69.3	+0.6
	South African hold		Swing	-0.4

Election decided by lot.

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.