Cape Province

The Province of the Cape of Good HopeSouth Africa Act, 1909 §6 (Wikisource) (), commonly referred to as "the Cape Province" () and colloquially as "The Cape" (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Colony, as well as Walvis Bay, and had Cape Town as its capital. In 1994, the Cape Province was divided into the new Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces, along with part of the North West.

History When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the original Cape Colony was renamed the Cape Province.

It was by far the largest of South Africa's four provinces, as it contained regions it had previously annexed, such as British Bechuanaland (not to be confused with the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana), Griqualand East (the area around Kokstad) and Griqualand West (area around Kimberley). As a result, it encompassed two-thirds of South Africa's territory, and covered an area of approximately .

At the time of the formation of the Union of South Africa, South Africa consisted of four provinces: Transvaal (previously the South African Republic), Natal, Orange Free State and the Cape Province.

Cape Franchise

Before union, the Cape Colony had traditionally implemented a system of non-racial franchise, whereby qualifications for suffrage were applied equally to all males, regardless of race. During the union negotiations, the Cape Prime Minister, John X. Merriman fought unsuccessfully to extend this multi-racial franchise system to the rest of South Africa. This failed, as it was strongly opposed by the former Boer Republics which were determined to entrench white rule. After union, the Cape Province was permitted to keep a restricted version of its multi-racial qualified franchise, and thus became the only province where Coloureds (mixed-race people) and Black Africans could vote.

Over the following years, successive acts were passed to erode this colour-blind voters roll. In 1931, the restricting franchise qualifications were removed for white voters, but kept for Black and Coloured voters. In 1956, the Apartheid government removed all remaining suffrage rights for "non-whites". The government had to appoint many extra senators in parliament to force through this change.Christoph Marx: Oxwagon Sentinel: Radical Afrikaner Nationalism and the History of the Ossewabrandwag. LIT Verlag Münster, 2009. p.61.

Partitioning under Apartheid During the apartheid era, so-called "bantustans" or homelands for the different Bantu nations were carved out of the existing provinces as part of the policy of perpetuating white control over South Africa. These became known as the four independent TBVC States and the six Non-Independent Homelands.

In the Cape Province, the Transkei (1976) and Ciskei (1981) regions were declared independent of South Africa. Griqualand East was transferred to Natal Province after Transkei was declared independent, since it was cut off from the rest of the province. With the 1994 adoption of the Interim Constitution, these homelands were re-incorporated into South Africa, both part of the new Eastern Cape province.

Post-apartheid After the first fully democratic elections in April 1994, the Transkei and Ciskei Bantustans were reunited with Cape Province, then the country was divided into what are now the current nine provinces of South Africa. Cape Province was broken up into three smaller provinces: the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape. Parts of it were also absorbed into the North West. Walvis Bay, a territory of the original Cape Colony, had been ceded to Namibia two months earlier.

Districts in 1991 Districts of the province and population at the 1991 census.

DistrictPopulationAberdeen 8,009Adelaide 15,220Albany (main town Grahamstown) 69,705Albert (main town Burgersdorp) 16,995Alexandria 26,651Aliwal North 27,486Barkly East 12,821Barkly West 35,012Bathurst 32,419Beaufort West 31,726Bedford 16,074Bellville 269,995Bredasdorp 23,076Britstown 6,523Caledon 79,052Calitzdorp 6,759Calvinia 18,430Cape 179,537Carnarvon 9,728Cathcart 14,815Ceres 47,052Clanwilliam 28,144Colesberg 15,446Cradock 37,144De Aar 25,438East London 240,474Elliot 14,159Fort Beaufort 22,793Fraserburg 4,367George 95,597Goodwood 259,620Gordonia (main town Upington) 118,623Graaff-Reinet 34,440Hankey 24,548Hanover 4,399Hartswater 29,146Hay (main town Griquatown) 11,104Heidelberg 11,519Herbert (main town Douglas) 26,316Hermanus 21,610Hofmeyr 4,995Hopefield 8,822Hopetown 11,175Humansdorp 43,799Indwe 9,483Jansenville 9,797Joubertina 13,385Kenhardt 11,353Kimberley 167,060King William's Town 29,653Kirkwood 30,766Knysna 50,420Komga 14,142Kuils River 133,577Kuruman 24,817Ladismith 12,705Lady Grey 7,530Laingsburg 5,781Maclear 16,653Malmesbury 113,450Middelburg 21,737Molteno 11,702Montagu 21,674Moorreesburg 11,159Mossel Bay 59,170Murraysburg 5,960Namaqualand (main town Springbok) 62,536Noupoort 8,348Oudtshoorn 68,093Paarl 136,121Pearston 4,983Philipstown 8,799Piketberg 34,152Port Elizabeth 670,653Postmasburg 54,790Prieska 19,185Prince Albert 8,567Queenstown 44,469Richmond 6,326Riversdal 25,021Robertson 32,331Simonstad 58,323Somerset East 29,758Somerset West 59,947Stellenbosch 73,839Sterkstroom 7,687Steynsburg 10,593Steytlerville 5,341Strand 40,096Stutterheim 40,119Sutherland 3,596Swellendam 32,147Tarka 9,538Tulbagh 25,334Uitenhage 182,551Uniondale 9,354Vanrhynsdorp 12,815Venterstad 5,777Victoria West 11,910Vredenburg 39,908Vredendal 28,962Vryburg 98,551Walvis Bay (South African 1878–1994) 22,999Warrenton 22,368Wellington 37,432Williston 4,177Willowmore 10,734Wodehouse (main town Dordrecht)15,540Worcester 117,159Wynberg 1,101,668

Administrators

Politics The province was a strong hold of the National party Province National United/Progressive/New Republic Labor Other Total1943 South African general election193511561948 South African general election2627021953 South African general election302400541958 South African general election331900521961 South African general election341800521966 South African general election381600541974 South African general election371803561981 South African general election431200551989 South African general election42120255align=left

Cape Province

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