Barberton (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)
| Barberton | |
|---|---|
| Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly | |
 Location of Barberton within South Africa (1981) | |
| Province | Transvaal |
| Electorate | 18,092 (1989) |
| Former constituency | |
| Created | 1910 1974 |
| Abolished | 1958 1994 |
| Number of members | 1 |
| Last MHA | Casper Uys (CP) |
| Replaced by | Nelspruit (1958) Mpumalanga (1994) |
Barberton was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1958 and from 1974 to 1994. Named after the town of Barberton, it covered a part of the eastern Transvaal along the border with Eswatini. 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, Barberton had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. In its first iteration, it was a marginal seat with a slight lean towards the South African Party, whose leader Jan Smuts was popular in the Transvaal. Its first MP, Joseph Petrus Jooste, resigned on election night, sparking South Africa's first (uncontested) by-election. Deneys Reitz, a protégé of Smuts, was first elected for Barberton in 1929 and served as a cabinet minister starting in 1935. He resigned in 1943 to take up appointment as High Commissioner in London, and in 1948, the seat was one of many in the Transvaal to fall to the Herenigde Nasionale Party. Its final MP, Wessel Hendrik Faurie, was elected for the new seat of Nelspruit on Barberton's abolition in 1958.
In 1974, Barberton was recreated to exist alongside Nelspruit, and by this time it was very safe for the governing party. Its only MP in its second iteration, Casper Uys, defected to Andries Treurnicht's Conservative Party on its formation in 1982, and was re-elected under this label in both 1987 and 1989.
Members
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910 | J. P. Jooste | Het Volk | |
| 1910 by | H. C. Hull | ||
| 1915 | J. H. Grobler | South African | |
| 1920 | J. C. Fourie | ||
| 1921 | |||
| 1924 | W. H. Rood | National | |
| 1929 | Deneys Reitz | South African | |
| 1933 | |||
| 1934 | United | ||
| 1938 | |||
| 1943 by | L. J. Raubenheimer | ||
| 1943 | |||
| 1948 | W. H. Faurie | HNP | |
| 1953 | National | ||
| 1958 | Constituency abolished | ||
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Casper Uys | National | |
| 1977 | |||
| 1981 | |||
| 1982 | Conservative | ||
| 1987 | |||
| 1989 | |||
| 1994 | Constituency abolished | ||
Detailed results
Elections in the 1910s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Het Volk | J. P. Jooste | 836 | 62.0 | New | |
| Unionist | D. Drew | 513 | 38.0 | New | |
| Majority | 323 | 24.0 | N/A | ||
| Het Volk win (new seat) | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Het Volk | H. C. Hull | Unopposed | |||
| Het Volk hold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South African | J. H. Grobler | 1,124 | 68.3 | +6.3 | |
| National | J. L. Malan | 522 | 31.7 | New | |
| Majority | 602 | 36.6 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 1,646 | 68.3 | N/A | ||
| South African hold | Swing | N/A | |||
Elections in the 1920s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South African | J. C. Fourie | 1,009 | 55.5 | −12.8 | |
| National | J. L. Malan | 809 | 44.5 | +12.8 | |
| Majority | 200 | 11.0 | −25.6 | ||
| Turnout | 1,818 | 63.2 | −5.1 | ||
| South African hold | Swing | -12.8 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South African | J. C. Fourie | 1,153 | 56.8 | +1.3 | |
| National | J. L. Malan | 876 | 43.2 | −1.3 | |
| Majority | 277 | 13.6 | +2.6 | ||
| Turnout | 2,029 | 64.8 | +1.6 | ||
| South African hold | Swing | +1.3 | |||
References
- ^ "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
- ^ a b Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
- ^ Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).
- ^ South Africa 1980/81: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
- ^ South Africa 1983: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
- ^ Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 10751. 22 May 1987. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
- ^ Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12109. 20 September 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.