Hopetown (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Hopetown
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Cape of Good Hope
Electorate	6,165 (1938)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1943
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Pieter Theron (UP)
Replaced by	Albert-Colesberg Prieska

Hopetown was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1943. It covered a large rural area in the northern Karoo, centred on the town of Hopetown. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Cape 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. The Cape Colony had implemented a “colour-blind” franchise known as the Cape Qualified Franchise, which included all adult literate men owning more than £75 worth of property (controversially raised from £25 in 1892), and this initially remained in effect after the colony became the Cape Province. As of 1908, 22,784 out of 152,221 electors in the Cape Colony were “Native or Coloured”. Eligibility to serve in Parliament and the Provincial Council, however, was restricted to whites from 1910 onward.

The first challenge to the Cape Qualified Franchise came with the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931, which extended the vote to women and removed property qualifications for the white population only – non-white voters remained subject to the earlier restrictions. In 1936, the Representation of Natives Act removed all black voters from the common electoral roll and introduced three “Native Representative Members”, white MPs elected by the black voters of the province and meant to represent their interests in particular. A similar provision was made for Coloured voters with the Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951, and although this law was challenged by the courts, it went into effect in time for the 1958 general election, which was thus held with all-white voter rolls for the first time in South African history. The all-white franchise would continue until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994.

History

Hopetown was a bellwether seat throughout its existence, being represented by the governing party at every election. Like much of the rural Cape, it started out dominated by the South African Party, but from 1915 the National Party grew in strength in each successive election, finally winning the seat in 1924 even as they assumed government. National MP Pieter Theron, who had been elected unopposed in 1933, joined the United Party on its formation in 1934 and was re-elected under that label in 1938. The seat was abolished at the following election, with most of its electors going to the seats of Albert-Colesberg and Prieska, and Theron retired at the same time.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	H. L. Aucamp	SAP
	1912 by	P. G. Marais
	1915	P. S. Cilliers
	1920
	1921
	1924	A. J. Stals	National
	1929
	1933	Pieter Theron
	1934		United
	1938
	1943	constituency abolished

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Hopetown

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	H. L. Aucamp	Unopposed
	South African win (new seat)

Hopetown by-election, 16 March 1912

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	P. G. Marais	Unopposed
	South African hold

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

General election 1915: Hopetown

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	P. S. Cilliers	1,474	63.7	N/A
	National	N. D. Geldenhuys	840	36.3	New
Majority			634	27.4	N/A
Turnout			2,314	76.0	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 § Hopetown.[edit]

General election 1920: Hopetown

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	P. S. Cilliers	1,359	52.7	−11.0
	National	H. J. Wessels	1,222	47.3	+11.0
Majority			137	5.4	−22.0
Turnout			2,581	74.8	−1.2
	South African hold		Swing	-11.0

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

General election 1921: Hopetown

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	P. S. Cilliers	1,562	54.8	+2.1
	National	P. G. Marais	1,290	45.2	−2.1
Majority			272	9.6	+4.2
Turnout			2,852	77.2	+2.4
	South African hold		Swing	+2.1