King William's Town (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

King William's Town
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Location of King William's Town within South Africa (1981)
Province	Cape of Good Hope
Electorate	18,383 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	(NP)
Replaced by	Eastern Cape

King William's Town was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. It covered a rural area of the Eastern Cape centred on its namesake town (since renamed Qonce). 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

As with much of the Eastern Cape, the electorate of King William’s Town was largely English-speaking and loyal to the pro-British side of South African politics, electing South African Party and United Party MPs consistently from 1921 until 1977. However, on the collapse of the UP, its more liberal successor parties did not find much favour with King William’s Town’s rural, conservative electorate. Instead, the seat became marginal between the governing National Party, which won it in 1977, and the New Republic Party, an English-speaking conservative opposition party based largely in neighbouring Natal. The NRP won King William’s Town in 1981 in a close contest, one of their few gains in that election and one of two seats ever held by the party outside Natal (the other being neighbouring East London North). In 1987, with the NRP in freefall, the NP retook King William’s Town, and held it until the end of apartheid.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	George Whitaker	Independent
	1915
	1920
	1921	Robert Ballantine	South African
	1924
	1929	A. C. V. Baines
	1933
	1934		United
	1938
	1941 by	C. M. Warren
	1943
	1948
	1953
	1958
	1961
	1966	J. E. Lindsay
	1970	S. A. van der Heever
	1974
	1977	H. S. Coetzer	National
	1981	P. R. C. Rogers	NRP
	1987	R. J. Radue	National
	1989
	1994	constituency abolished

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1910 South African general election § King William's Town.[edit]

General election 1910: King William's Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Unionist	George Whitaker	Unopposed
	Ind. Unionist win (new seat)

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1915 South African general election § King William's Town.[edit]

General election 1915: King William's Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	George Whitaker	1,607	59.2	N/A
	South African	L. W. Luyt	1,108	40.8	New
Majority			499	18.4	N/A
Turnout			2,715	79.9	N/A
	Independent hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1920 South African general election § King William's Town.[edit]

General election 1920: King William's Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	George Whitaker	1,461	60.6	+1.4
	Labour	J. Carver	949	39.4	New
Majority			512	21.2	N/A
Turnout			2,410	65.8	−14.1
	Independent hold		Swing	N/A

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1921 South African general election § King William's Town.[edit]

General election 1921: King William's Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Robert Ballantine	1,331	49.6	New
	Independent	C. H. Malcomess	805	30.0	New
	Labour	J. Carver	416	15.5	−23.9
	Labour	T. Crankshaw	133	5.0	New
Majority			512	19.6	N/A
Turnout			2,685	70.4	+4.6
	South African hold		Swing	N/A