The Development of Parliament and the Election of its Members

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UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA 1910 TO 1961

When Union was proclaimed on 2 December 1909, to take effect on 31 May 1910, the four colonies that were to form the Union of South Africa, all enjoyed equal status as responsible government colonies.208 The colonies had similar constitutions based on the Cape model and the constitution of the Union was, “except for the Provincial Council system”, a replica on a larger scale of the pre-existing constitutions of the four colonies.209 As shown above, there existed different qualifications for the franchise in the four colonies that became the Union of South Africa in 1910

REMOVAL OF COLOUREDS FROM THE COMMON VOTERS

ROLL221 The most controversial amendment to the South African constitution was the removal of the Coloureds from the common voters roll. The National Party came into power in May 1948 winning 70 of the 150 seats in Parliament and obtaining the support of the Afrikaner Party who had 9 seats. Hancock222 points out that the 1948 election was South Africa’s most momentous election since Union and that it was decided by a minority vote. Hancock223 analysed the 1948 election results and came to the conclusion that on a one-vote one-value basis the United Party would have received more than 50% of the seats (80 seats) and that the NP/AP alliance combined, less than 40% (60 seats).224 According to Carpenter,225 General Smuts of the Transvaal delegation at the National Convention was in favour of a proportional electoral system but in the end a constituency based winner-take-all system was adopted.

FURTHER LAWS OF CONSTITUTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE

Further laws of constitutional significance adopted by Parliament were the Bantu Authorities Act, 239 which laid the basis for a system of self-rule by rural Black communities according to their traditional public law, and the Promotion of Black SelfGovernment Act,240 which removed the so-called Native representatives from Parliament. It also enacted the ethnic diversity of the Black people of South Africa and divided them into eight ethnic groups. Each of these ethnic groups was granted a specific geographic area in which a degree of self-government could be exercised within the framework of the Bantu Authorities Act.

REPRESENTATION IN GREAT BRITAIN

Maine328 calls government by representation a virtually English discovery which caused Parliamentary institutions to be preserved in Britain from the destruction which overtook them everywhere else. He describes it as follows: “under this system, when it was in its prime, an electoral body, never…extraordinarily large, chose a number of persons to represent it in Parliament, leaving them unfettered by express instructions, but having with them at most a general understanding, that they would strive to give a particular direction to public policy.” Representation has its origins in the feudal system wherein the feudal lord represented his vassal vis-à-vis the king. It developed together with the rise of the parliamentary system329 – although from different origins, the two systems eventually developed to fit together as hand in glove.

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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

In general the freedoms and rights of British subjects accompanied the colonists who went to the British Territories overseas as a part of the English common law.356 The long established principle that the King could not levy taxes without his subjects’ consent therefore also applied to the colonists.357 When George III levied taxes on the colonists to pay for the war against France, the slogan no taxation without representation became the battle cry for the revolution that led to the independence of the United States of America.358 According to Storey, the colonists were not demanding new rights but they were pleading for the preservation of their own rights under the Crown. 359 Their complaints culminated in specific charges included in the Declaration of Independence, namely that they fought “to preserve the freedom and rights as citizens of England.”

VIRTUAL REPRESENTATION

It was pointed out in Chapter 2 that although Parliament was seen as representing the whole nation, universal suffrage was only introduced both in Britain and in South Africa during the Twentieth Century. In Britain it was essentially the unpropertied masses while in South Africa it was the black population that did not have the right to vote, even though in terms of public law, these groups were considered part of Parliament, as it was “that great body that comprehends the whole nation” and “Parliament’s consent is every man’s consent.”365 To overcome this anomaly, Burke coined the term virtual representation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

ACKNOWLEGMENTS
SUMMARY
LIST OF ABREVIATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES
CHAPTER 1 Introduction
- 1.1 Motivation for the Study
- 1.2 Delimitation of Study
- 1.3 Classification of Study
CHAPTER 2 8 The Development of Parliament and the Election of its Members
- 2.1 Introduction
- 2.2 Britain 1215 to
- 2.3 South Africa Pre-Union
  - 2.3.1 Cape Colony 1853 to
  - 2.3.2 Orange Free State 1837 to
  - 2.3.3 South African Republic (Transvaal) 1852 to
  - 2.3.4 Natal 1856 to
- 2.4 Union of South Africa 1910 to
  - 2.4.1 Removal of Blacks from the Common Voters’ Role
  - 2.4.2 Removal of Coloureds from the Common Voters’ Role
  - 2.4.3 Indians
  - 2.4.4 Further Laws of Constitutional Significance
- 2.5 Republic of South Africa 1961 to
- 2.6 Republic of South Africa 1984 to 1994 – The Tricameral Period
- 2.7 Republic of South Africa 1994 to
- 2.8 Conclusion
CHAPTER 3 Representation: The Development of the Principle in Public Law
- 3.1 Introduction
- 3.2 Representation in Great Britain
- 3.3 The American Revolution
- 3.4 Virtual Representation
- 3.5 South Africa pre
- 3.6 South Africa 1994 to the Present
- 3.7 Conclusion
CHAPTER 4 The Advent of Political Parties and their Development from Informal Groupings to Government
- 4.1 Introduction
- 4.2 Britain
- 4.3 South Africa pre-Union
- 4.4 South Africa 1910 to
- 4.5 Conclusion
CHAPTER 5 The Factors that Influence a Member’s Mandate CHAPTER Floor-crossing
CHAPTER Final Conclusion
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
Bibliography