Yeoville (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Last updated
Yeoville
Former constituency
for the South African House of Assembly
Joburg-1910-Yeoville.png
Location of Yeoville within Johannesburg (1910)
Province Transvaal
Electorate20,550 (1989)
Former constituency
Created 1910
Abolished 1994
Number of members1
Last MHA  Douglas Gibson (DP)

Yeoville was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. It covered a part of Johannesburg's inner northern suburbs centred on the suburb of Yeoville. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal 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. 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 Johannesburg's northern suburbs, Yeoville had a largely English-speaking and liberal electorate. It was won at every election by whatever the main pro-British or liberal party was in South Africa at the time - first the Unionists, then the South African Party, then the United Party, then the PFP and finally the Democrats. Several of its MPs reached prominent positions in South African politics: Patrick Duncan served in cabinet under Jan Smuts and J. B. M. Hertzog, and resigned in 1937 to take up the post of Governor-General, the first South African citizen to hold that office. Henry Gluckman served in cabinet during Smuts' second administration, becoming South Africa's first Jewish cabinet minister, and was noted for his support for racial equality and universal health care. Marais Steyn was chairman of the Transvaal UP and a standard-bearer of the party's conservative faction, later defecting to the governing National Party and being elevated to cabinet under John Vorster and P. W. Botha. His successor both as provincial party chair and MP for Yeoville, Harry Schwarz, was a committed liberal and opponent of apartheid, who broke away from the declining UP in 1975 to form the Reform Party. After a series of mergers, this became the Progressive Federal Party, of which Schwarz was one of the leading figures (though never the party leader). He left parliament in 1991 to take up the position of Ambassador to the United States, and the seat was taken by Douglas Gibson in a by-election left unopposed by the National Party as a condition of Schwarz taking up the ambassadorship.

Members

ElectionMemberParty
1910 Lionel Phillips Unionist
1915 W. T. F. Davies
1920 A. E. A. Williamson
1921 Patrick Duncan South African
1924
1929
1933
1934 United
1937 byMaldwyn Edmund
1938 Henry Gluckman
1943
1948
1953
1958 Alexander Kowarsky
1961 Marais Steyn
1966
1970
1973 National
1974 Harry Schwarz United
1975 Reform
1975 PRP
1977 PFP
1981
1987
1989 Democratic
1991 by Douglas Gibson
1994 Constituency abolished

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

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1910: Yeoville
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Lionel Phillips 1,658 75.6 New
Het Volk Willem van Hulsteyn53424.4New
Majority 1,12451.2N/A
Unionist win (new seat)
General election 1915: Yeoville
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist W. T. F. Davies 1,951 80.9 New
Labour R. G. Barlow46219.1New
Majority 1,48961.8N/A
Turnout 2,41376.6N/A
Unionist hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1920: Yeoville
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist A. E. A. Williamson 984 49.0 −31.9
South African R. Goldmann80640.1New
Independent R. L. Weir22010.9New
Majority 1788.9N/A
Turnout 2,01065.6−11.0
Unionist hold Swing N/A
General election 1921: Yeoville
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
South African Patrick Duncan Unopposed
South African hold

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.