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Port Elizabeth Central
Port Elizabeth Central
Port Elizabeth-Sentraal
Former constituency; for the South African House of Assembly
	Location of Port Elizabeth Central within Port Elizabeth (1981)
Province	Cape of Good Hope
Electorate	14,740 (1989)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1994
Number of members	1
Last MHA	E. W. Trent (DP)
Replaced by	Eastern Cape

Port Elizabeth Central was a constituency in the Cape Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1994. As the name indicates, the seat covered the central area of Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha). 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.^[1]

History

Port Elizabeth Central was the only seat in the Port Elizabeth area to exist continuously from the creation of the Union Parliament in 1910 until the introduction of non-racial universal suffrage in 1994. Through much of its existence, it was a stronghold of the pro-British and liberal side of South African politics, electing a Unionist MP through the entire existence of that party and then South African Party and United Party ones through the entire existence of those parties – with the exception of 1966, when the National Party’s Willem Hendrik Delport narrowly took the seat. When the UP collapsed in 1977, Port Elizabeth Central elected D. H. Rossouw from the moderate South African Party. However, in 1981 the seat was won by the more liberal Progressive Federal Party, which would hold it throughout the remainder of its existence.

Members

	Member	Party
1910	E. H. Walton	Unionist
1915
1920
1921		South African
1921 by	Deneys Reitz
1924	Deneys Reitz
1929	A. P. J. Wares
1933
1934		United
1938
1943
1945 by	O. J. Oosthuizen
1948	O. J. Oosthuizen
1953	R. A. P. Trollip
1958	P. R. Dodds
1961	P. R. Dodds
1966	W. H. Delport	National
1970	H. van C. Cillié	United
1974	W. G. Kingwell	United
1977	D. H. Rossouw	South African
1981	D. J. N. Malcomess	PFP
1987	D. J. N. Malcomess	PFP
1989	E. W. Trent	Democratic
1994	constituency abolished

^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1910: Port Elizabeth Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	E. H. Walton	Unopposed
	Unionist win (new seat)

General election 1915: Port Elizabeth Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	E. H. Walton	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1920: Port Elizabeth Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	E. H. Walton	1,414	69.6	*N/A*
	Labour	R. M. Brown	619	30.4	New
Majority			795	39.2	N/A
Turnout			2,033	49.8	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1921: Port Elizabeth Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	E. H. Walton	1,583	80.8	+21.2
	Labour	A. Eaton	377	19.2	−21.2
Majority			1,206	61.6	+42.4
Turnout			1,960	47.0	−2.8
	South African hold		Swing	+21.2

General election 1924: Port Elizabeth Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Deneys Reitz	1,705	72.1	−8.7
	Labour	R. L. Weir	661	27.9	+8.7
Majority			1,044	44.2	−15.4
Turnout			2,366	76.2	+29.2
	South African hold		Swing	-8.7

General election 1929: Port Elizabeth Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	A. P. J. Wares	2,002	65.2	−6.9
	Labour	M. Lazarus	1,069	34.8	+6.9
Majority			933	30.4	−13.8
Turnout			3,071	71.6	−4.6
	South African hold		Swing	-6.9

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1933: Port Elizabeth Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	A. P. J. Wares	2,953	61.2	−4.0
	Independent	L. W. Smith	1,869	38.8	New
Majority			933	22.4	N/A
Turnout			3,071	71.6	−4.6
	South African hold		Swing	N/A

References

^ "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
^ 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.