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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
Cape Town Harbour was one of the four constituencies created out of the multi-member Cape Town seat for the Cape Parliament. At the time, it covered the CBD north of Strand Street and west of Adderley Street, as well as the seaside suburbs of Sea Point and Green Point. With a few minor changes (the seat gained Clifton and lost parts of the CBD), these boundaries would essentially remain until the seat's abolition in 1929.
Like the rest of Cape Town, it was a largely English-speaking seat and loyal to the pro-British side of South African politics. In the first general election, it was won handily by Unionist Party leader Leander Starr Jameson – however, Jameson was also elected unopposed in Albany, and chose to represent that seat, causing a by-election in Cape Town Harbour that was won by party colleague H. H. Juta. Juta was replaced at the 1915 general election by L. Woodhead, and in a 1918 by-election by Gideon Brand van Zyl, who would represent the seat until its abolition, joining the South African Party in 1921 when the Unionists merged with them. On the abolition of the seat, van Zyl stood for and won the new seat of Sea Point, which he represented until his appointment as Administrator of the Cape Province in 1942.
Location of Cape Town Harbour within Cape Town (1910)