Heilbron (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)
| Heilbron | |
|---|---|
| Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly | |
 Location of Heilbron within South Africa (1981) | |
| Province | Orange Free State |
| Electorate | 10,597 (1989) |
| Former constituency | |
| Created | 1910 |
| Abolished | 1994 |
| Number of members | 1 |
| Last MHA | C. H. Pienaar (CP) |
| Replaced by | Free State |
Heilbron, known as Heilbron-Frankfort for the 1953 general election, was a constituency in the Orange Free State Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. Named after the town of Heilbron, the seat covered a large rural area in the east of the province, bordering the Transvaal. 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. In the Orange River Colony, and its predecessor the Orange Free State, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Orange Free State 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
Heilbron, like most of the Orange Free State, was a highly conservative seat throughout its existence and had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. It was an early stronghold for the National Party, whose founding leader J. B. M. Hertzog enjoyed widespread popularity with the Free State's Afrikaner population. Its long-serving Nationalist MP, Marthinus Lourens Malan, left parliament in June 1934, as Hertzog was in the process of merging his party with Jan Smuts' South African Party to form the new United Party. The resulting by-election was the last contested by the SAP and National Party as separate entities, and unlike every previous contest in the seat, the SAP won by a comfortable margin. Their MP, Johan Louis Venter Liebenberg, would represent three separate parties over a fairly short parliamentary career: he joined the UP on its formation shortly after he was elected, narrowly held the seat in 1938, then joined Nicolaas Havenga's Afrikaner Party in 1940. He contested the seat under that label in 1943, but like most Afrikaner Party candidates, placed a distant third, and the seat was taken by Pieter Willem Adriaan Pieterse for the Herenigde Nasionale Party, which swept the Free State in that election.
Heilbron would continue to be an NP safe seat until the 1980s, when the governing party began to face serious opposition from the right in a number of rural seats. The new Conservative Party came close to winning Heilbron at its first election in 1987, and it was one of a number of seats that fell to the party in 1989. Heilbron's last MP, Cehill Hercules Pienaar, eventually defected to the Inkatha Freedom Party and became a delegate to the first National Council of Provinces for that party.
Members
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910 | P. J. G. Theron | Orangia Unie | |
| 1915 | M. L. Malan | National | |
| 1920 | |||
| 1921 | |||
| 1924 | |||
| 1929 | |||
| 1933 | |||
| 1934 by | J. L. V. Liebenberg | South African | |
| 1934 | United | ||
| 1938 | |||
| 1940 | Afrikaner | ||
| 1943 | P. W. A. Pieterse | HNP | |
| 1948 | |||
| 1953 | G. F. van L. Froneman | National | |
| 1958 | |||
| 1961 | |||
| 1966 | |||
| 1970 | G. F. C. du Plessis | ||
| 1974 | |||
| 1977 | J. J. M. J. van Vuuren | ||
| 1981 | A. J. W. P. S. Terblanche | ||
| 1987 | |||
| 1989 | C. H. Pienaar | Conservative | |
| 1994 | constituency abolished | ||
Detailed results
Elections in the 1910s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orangia Unie | P. J. G. Theron | 788 | 71.6 | New | |
| Independent | J. Pierce | 312 | 28.4 | New | |
| Majority | 476 | 43.2 | N/A | ||
| Orangia Unie win (new seat) | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | M. L. Malan | 1,129 | 63.1 | New | |
| South African | Deneys Reitz | 659 | 36.9 | −34.7 | |
| Majority | 570 | 26.2 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 1,788 | 76.4 | N/A | ||
| National gain from South African | Swing | N/A | |||
Elections in the 1920s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | M. L. Malan | 1,458 | 69.9 | +6.8 | |
| South African | L. J. Naudé | 628 | 30.1 | −6.8 | |
| Majority | 830 | 39.8 | +13.6 | ||
| Turnout | 2,086 | 69.7 | −6.7 | ||
| National hold | Swing | +6.8 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | M. L. Malan | 1,503 | 72.4 | +2.5 | |
| South African | L. J. Naudé | 572 | 27.6 | −2.5 | |
| Majority | 931 | 44.8 | +5.0 | ||
| Turnout | 2,075 | 65.1 | −4.6 | ||
| National hold | Swing | +2.5 | |||
References
- ^ "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
- ^ 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.