Ventersdorp (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Ventersdorp
Former constituency
for the South African House of Assembly
Outline map
Location of Ventersdorp within South Africa (1981)
ProvinceTransvaal
Electorate16,911 (1989)
Former constituency
Created1920
1981
Abolished1966
1994
Number of members1
Last MHA  S. P. van Vuuren (CP)
Replaced byCarletonville (1966)
North West (1994)

Ventersdorp was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1920 to 1966 and again from 1981 to 1994. Named after the town of Ventersdorp, it covered a rural area in the western Transvaal. 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, Ventersdorp was a conservative seat with a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. In its early years it was a marginal seat, with the South African and National parties fighting several close contests, but that era ended with the election of independent Jacob Wilkens in 1933. Wilkens was re-elected in 1938 for the United Party, but left that party alongside J. B. M. Hertzog in 1939, and was defeated for re-election by a new UP candidate in 1943. He returned one final time in 1948, this time for the Herenigde Nasionale Party, which took the seat as part of their sweep of the rural Transvaal. In 1966, the constituency was abolished and its MP, Johannes Casper Greyling, moved to the new seat of Carletonville.

Ventersdorp was recreated in 1981, and won by Benjamin Hugh Wilkens for the National Party, but in 1987 it was one of many rural Transvaal seats to fall to Andries Treurnicht's new hard-right Conservative Party. Stefanus Petrus van Vuuren, the Conservative MP elected in 1987, would represent Ventersdorp until the end of apartheid.

Members

Election Member Party
1920 B. I. J. van Heerden South African
1921
1924 L. J. Boshoff National
1929
1933 Jacob Wilkens Independent
1938 United
1939 HNP
1943 H. J. Visser United
1948 Jacob Wilkens HNP
1953 J. C. Greyling National
1958
1961
1966 Constituency abolished
Election Member Party
1981 B. H. Wilkens National
1987 S. P. van Vuuren Conservative
1989
1994 Constituency abolished

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

Detailed results

Elections in the 1920s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1920 South African general election § Ventersdorp.[edit]
General election 1920: Ventersdorp
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
South African B. I. J. van Heerden 1,025 52.0 New
National L. J. Boshoff 945 48.0 New
Majority 80 4.0 N/A
Turnout 1,970 70.7 N/A
South African win (new seat)
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1921 South African general election § Ventersdorp.[edit]
General election 1921: Ventersdorp
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
South African B. I. J. van Heerden 1,124 51.9 −0.1
National L. J. Boshoff 1,042 48.1 +0.1
Majority 82 3.8 −0.2
Turnout 2,166 71.0 +0.3
South African hold Swing -0.1
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1924 South African general election § Ventersdorp.[edit]
General election 1924: Ventersdorp
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National L. J. Boshoff 1,126 52.3 +4.2
South African B. I. J. van Heerden 1,025 47.6 −4.3
Rejected ballots 3 0.1 N/A
Majority 101 4.7 N/A
Turnout 2,154 83.6 +12.6
National gain from South African Swing +4.3
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1929 South African general election § Ventersdorp.[edit]
General election 1929: Ventersdorp
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National L. J. Boshoff 1,245 52.4 +0.1
South African C. H. Mostert 1,127 47.4 −0.2
Rejected ballots 6 0.2 +0.1
Majority 118 5.0 +0.3
Turnout 2,378 85.4 +1.8
National hold Swing +0.2

Elections in the 1930s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1933 South African general election § Ventersdorp.[edit]
General election 1933: Ventersdorp
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Jacob Wilkens 2,776 59.9 New
National J. J. L. Wernich 1,822 39.3 −13.1
Roos E. A. Papendorf 6 0.1 New
Rejected ballots 33 0.7 +0.5
Majority 954 20.6 N/A
Turnout 4,637 80.6 −4.8
Independent gain from National Swing N/A
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1938 South African general election § Ventersdorp.[edit]
General election 1938: Ventersdorp
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Jacob Wilkens 2,838 60.7 +0.8
Purified National M. C. Eloff 1,822 38.9 New
Rejected ballots 19 0.4 -0.3
Majority 1,016 21.7 N/A
Turnout 4,679 88.2 +7.6
Swing N/A

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.

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