Zululand (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Zululand
Zoeloeland
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Natal
Electorate	13,044 (1970)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1974
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Radclyffe Cadman (UP)
Replaced by	Umhlatuzana

Zululand (Afrikaans: Zoeloeland) was a constituency in the Natal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. It covered a region of northeastern Natal roughly coterminous with the former Zulu Kingdom, after which it was named. 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. The franchise used in the Natal Colony, while theoretically not restricted by race, was significantly less liberal than that of the Cape, and no more than a few hundred non-white electors ever qualified. In 1908, an estimated 200 of the 22,786 electors in the colony were of non-European descent, and by 1935, only one remained. ^[1] By 1958, when the last non-white voters in the Cape were taken off the rolls, Natal too had an all-white electorate. 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, which remained the case until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994. ^[2]

History

As in most of Natal, Zululand's electorate was largely English-speaking and conservative. Its longest-serving MP was George Heaton Nicholls, a British-born former soldier and colonial administrator who had set up a sugar plantation in the area following the end of his civil service career. Nicholls resigned from his seat upon being elected to the Senate in 1939, and the resulting by-election was won by former Berea MP Leif Egeland, like Nicholls a member of the United Party. For most of its existence, Zululand was a UP stronghold - in 1948, when so many other rural seats fell to the National Party, they didn't even contest Zululand, and when they finally did in 1953, they got barely over a quarter of the vote. The constituency voted against a republic in the 1960 referendum by almost a two-thirds margin, but the UP's hold on it would soon begin to slip, and in 1966, it elected a Nationalist MP for the first and only time. The UP retook it in 1970, and held it until its abolition in 1974. Its final MP, Radclyffe Cadman, was a member of the UP's conservative wing, and would later become leader of the New Republic Party.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	W. F. Clayton	Independent
	1915		South African
	1920	George Heaton Nicholls
	1921
	1924
	1929
	1933
	1934		United
	1938
	1940 by	Leif Egeland
	1943	J. W. H. Morris
	1946 by	A. W. S. Mortifee
	1948
	1953	Ray Swart
	1958
	1959		Progressive
	1961	Radclyffe Cadman	United
	1966	Benjamin Pienaar	National
	1970	Radclyffe Cadman	United
	1974	Constituency abolished

^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1910 South African general election § Zululand.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Zululand

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	W. F. Clayton	543	56.3	New
	South African	A. E. Brunner	422	43.7	New
Majority			121	12.6	N/A
	Independent win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Zululand

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	W. F. Clayton	991	78.6	+22.3
	National	E. E. Dalton	270	21.4	New
Majority			721	57.2	N/A
Turnout			1,261	59.2	N/A
	South African hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

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

General election 1920: Zululand

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	George Heaton Nicholls	914	82.8	+4.2
	National	P. J. Meyer	190	17.2	−4.2
Majority			724	65.6	N/A
Turnout			1,261	59.2	N/A
	South African hold		Swing	N/A

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

General election 1921: Zululand

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	George Heaton Nicholls	920	83.9	+1.1
	National	W. H. Harris	177	16.1	−1.1
Majority			743	67.8	+2.2
Turnout			1,097	55.5	−3.7
	South African hold		Swing	+1.1

References

1. May, H.J. (1955). The South African Constitution. 3rd ed. Cape Town: Juta & Co.
2. "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
3. Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
4. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).
5. South Africa 1980/81: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
6. South Africa 1983: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
7. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 10751. 22 May 1987. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
8. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12109. 20 September 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.