Vasco was a constituency in the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), 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 Co ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, which existed from

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. It covered various areas of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

’s

northern suburbs Northern Sydney is a large metropolitan area in Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the north shore of Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River. The region embraces suburbs in Sydney's north-east, north and inner north west. Northern Sy ...

, centred on its namesake suburb of Vasco. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

and one to the

Cape Provincial Council The Cape Provincial Council was the provincial council (South Africa), provincial council of the Cape Province of South Africa. It was created by the South Africa Act 1909, with effect from the formation of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910 ...

Franchise notes

When the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

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 The Cape Qualified Franchise was the system of multi-racial Suffrage, franchise that was adhered to in the Cape Colony, and in the Cape Province in the early years of the Union of South Africa. Qualifications for the right to vote at parliamenta ...

, 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 Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

Coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

". 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 The Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930, was an act of the Parliament of South Africa which granted white women aged 21 and older the right to vote and to run for office. It also had the effect of diluting the limited voting power of non-white peo ...

and the

Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931 The Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931, was an act of the Parliament of South Africa which removed all property and educational franchise qualifications applying to white men. It was passed a year after the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930, ...

, 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 The Representation of Natives Act No 12 of 1936 (commenced 10 July) was legislation passed in South Africa which further reduced black rights at the time. The Cape province had a qualified franchise which had allowed a small number of blacks in t ...

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 The Separate Representation of Voters Act No. 46 was introduced in South Africa on 18 June 1951. Part of the legislation during the apartheid era, the National Party introduced it to enforce racial segregation, and was part of a deliberate pr ...

, 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

Vasco was first created in 1943, replacing the abolished Maitland constituency,''Government Gazette of South Africa'', No. 3139. 8 January 1943. Pretoria: Government of South Africa. and for most of its history was centred on its namesake suburb and neighbouring Goodwood. Like the rest of the Northern Suburbs, its electorate was largely working-class and

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

-speaking. In its first two elections, it returned cabinet minister James Mushet for the United Party, but in 1953 it was taken by the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

, which would hold it for the remainder of its existence. Its first National MP, cabinet minister

Karl Bremer Karl Bremer (27 April 1885 – 18 July 1953) was a medical doctor and a South African politician who became the Minister of Health and Social Welfare in South Africa in Dr D. F. Malan's cabinet. Early life Bremer is of German ancestry, his fat ...

, died shortly after his election to the seat, necessitating a by-election which was won by the NP once again. After another by-election in 1962, it was briefly represented by Frank Waring, one of the first native English-speaking NP cabinet ministers.Schoeman, B.M. (1977). ''Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976''. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies. For the last decade of its existence, the NP faced mainly Conservative Party opposition for the seat.

Members

''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. ''Government Gazette of South Africa'', No. 12206. 8 December 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.

Detailed results

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1980s

References

{{coord missing, South Africa Cape Town Former constituencies of South Africa 1943 establishments in South Africa 1994 disestablishments in South Africa Constituencies disestablished in 1994