Report of the Tenth Delimitation Commission (Government Gazette Extraordinary No. 5009, with Proclamation No. 37 of 1953)¶

Literature › Works

Brink, C. P.; Van Zijl, J. W.; Beyers, D. O. K. (1953). Report of the Tenth Delimitation Commission (Government Gazette Extraordinary No. 5009, with Proclamation No. 37 of 1953). Government Gazette Extraordinary (Union of South Africa), Vol. CLXXI. Government Printer, Pretoria.


Type	primary source
Scope	Wider apartheid literature
Method	primary document
Period studied	1947–1953
Regions	Union of South Africa, Cape Province, Natal, Transvaal, Orange Free State
Themes	politics ideology elections, demography urbanisation, business and state
Citation key	`brink1953`

Argument¶

The Commission, appointed 26 June 1952, redivided the four provinces into House of Assembly and Provincial Council constituencies using white voters' rolls corrected to 30 April 1952. It first allocated the 150 seats by a mechanical quota calculation, which gave the Transvaal two more seats and the Cape and Natal one fewer each. It then drew boundaries under section 40 of the South Africa Act, weighing community of interests, communications, physical features, existing boundaries and density of population, with a discretion to load or unload seats by up to 15 per cent. It rejected the claim that rural seats are routinely unloaded and urban seats loaded by rule. It argued instead that each seat is judged on its merits within its province, and that provincial total loadings must equal total unloadings. The report is a bilingual official text with constituency descriptions in the appendices. It is evidence of the white electoral architecture that underpinned apartheid-era politics, not a study of the economy.

Evidence and method¶

Voters' lists supplied by the Chief Electoral Officer (corrected to 30 April 1952), submissions and maps from political parties and the War Veterans Torch Commando, public hearings in provincial capitals and major cities, and aerial and motor inspections. Also census staff statistical tables and Surveyor-General boundary descriptions.

Place in the debates¶

Rural over-representation (the loading and unloading rule) in delimitation (see White electoral politics, delimitation and party systems). The Commission denies that previous commissions applied a fixed rural-unload/urban-load rule and rejects the Torch Commando's contention that the rule had eroded the value of the urban vote. It holds that each seat is weighed on its merits against the five section 40(3) factors, while acknowledging that in practice rural seats are usually unloaded and urban seats usually loaded.
Whether projected voter growth in fast-developing areas justifies unloading a seat (see White electoral politics, delimitation and party systems). Rejects it: only the lists current at the time of delimitation count, and growth is not one of the statutory factors.

Findings¶

Total white voters on the lists give the Union quota used to allocate the 150 seats. (p. 4)

By dividing the total of 1,539,802 white voters by150, the Union quota obtained amounts to 10,265 . 35.
The Transvaal gains two seats, while the Cape and Natal each lose one. (p. 4)

It will, therefore, be oqserved that at the present delimitation', in comparison with the previous delimita~ tion, the Transvaal is entitled to two additionl seats and cons~quently the Cape Province and Natal each to one less
The Commission denies that rural seats are always unloaded and urban seats always loaded. (p. 6)

Secondly the general opinion seems to be that rural electoral divisions should be unloaded and urban electoral division should be loaded, and that previous delimita~ tion commissions acted upon this basis. Both these opinions are erroneous.
The Commission acknowledges that in practice rural seats are unloaded and urban seats loaded, but with exceptions. (p. 7)
Provincial loadings and unloadings must balance, and the Cape's size limits the unloading of its rural seats. (p. 9)

each province has to be delimited as a separate unit and that the t;)tal loading in the province must be equal to the total unloading.
The Transvaal's 23 rural seats cover nearly the whole province and were unloaded by about 13.2 per cent. (p. 32)

The average unload of the twenty-three constituencies in this group, was approximately 13·2 per cent.
The Witwatersrand dominates the Transvaal's voting strength. (p. 29)

510,314 of the 693,108 voters in the Transvaal are concentrated in this area-in fact, one-third of the Unicn's voting strength of 1,539,802 voters.
Industrial expansion (the iron and steel works at Vanderbijlpark) drove the surge in voters at Vereeniging. (p. 29)

The establishment of the iron and steel factory at Vanderbijlpark in particular. and the industrial expansion in general was responsible for this large increase.
Gold-field development concentrated voters in the Free State and prompted a new Odendaalsrus seat. (p. 38)

The most important such factor is the concentration of voters in the goldfields areas of Odendaalsnl's and Welkom.
Winburg's provincial seat was heavily over quota because of the Welkom gold-field boom. (p. 38)

The constituency of Winburg is 98·4 per cent above quota as a result of the increase at Welkom.
Natal lost the Klip River seat as rural seats shed voters to Durban, and Zululand's voters were not usable elsewhere. (p. 25)

Nevertheless serious difficulties arose in connection with the placing of these voters in the surrounding constituencies

Evidence ledger¶

Sources used¶

Source	Kind	Period	How used
Current voters' lists under Act No. 46 of 1946 (as amended by Acts 51 of 1948 and 55 of 1952), corrected up to 30 April 1952, supplied by the Chief Electoral Officer	election returns	corrected to 30 April 1952	Gives the white voter totals per province (1,539,802 in all), which fix the Union quota of 10,265.35 and the seat allocation.
Total (white and non-white) voters on current voters' lists per province	election returns	30 April 1952	Sets the provincial quotas (total voters divided by seats) and the permissible 15% load and unload limits.
Polling-district level voter registration figures and constituency percentages above/below quota	election returns	1947 and 1952	Used to assess each seat's deviation from quota, the shift of voters between rural and urban areas, and the transfer of polling districts between seats.
Voter figures at the previous (1947) delimitation	commission or official report	1947	Serves as the baseline for growth in voters (e.g. Transvaal 578,722 in 1947, Free State up 20,798) and for the quota and seat allocation comparisons.
South Africa Act, 1909, sections 32, 38-42 and 71, as amended by Act No. 55 of 1952	legislation gazette	1909-1952	Provides the legal quota rule, the 15% load/unload discretion and the five factors the Commission must weigh.
Act No. 46 of 1946, section 8, as amended by Act 55 of 1952; Acts 12 of 1936 and 23 of 1949	legislation gazette	1936-1952	Defines which voters' lists are 'current' or 'valid' and excludes the Native Representative and South West Africa seats from the 150.
Oral evidence and written representations (maps and memoranda) of political parties, public bodies and individuals at public meetings	interviews oral history	July-December 1952	Supplied competing delimitation schemes and local knowledge that the Commission weighed in drawing boundaries.
War Veterans Torch Commando printed memorandum (statistics, graphs and histograms on loading and unloading)	other	1952	Argued that urban votes had lost value against rural votes through repeated loading and unloading; the Commission rejected it.
Previous delimitation commission reports (1947 report, para 19)	commission or official report	1947	Cited to rebut claims that earlier commissions loaded urban and unloaded rural seats simply on density, and about the weight of 'means of communication'.
Commission's own inspections by car and Defence Department aircraft	author survey or fieldwork	1952	Supplied direct observation of topography, communications, population density and farming type in urban and rural areas.
Maps and boundary descriptions prepared by the Surveyors-General (Appendices 2 and 3)	maps spatial data	1952-53	Record the final boundaries of each constituency by polling district, farm and street, with voter counts.
Statistical tables and counting machine from the Director of Census	official statistical series	1952	Helped prepare the statistical tables used in the load/unload calculations.

Inference¶

Quantification: Descriptive tables.

Administrative arithmetic and case-by-case judgment. Seats are allocated by the statutory quota formula from registered white voters. Each constituency is then adjusted within the ±15% load/unload band, weighing the five statutory factors (community of interest, communications, physical features, existing boundaries, density), with competing party schemes heard at public meetings and boundaries checked by inspection.

Key claims¶

Claim	Basis	Strength
Seats were reallocated by a purely mathematical formula from the 30 April 1952 white voter lists, giving the Transvaal two more seats and the Cape and Natal one fewer each. (p. 4)	Chief Electoral Officer's voter figures per province; total of 1,539,802 divided by 150 gives a Union quota of 10,265.35.	Systematic data
Rural voter growth lagged behind urban growth in all four provinces, so rural seats were systematically unloaded and urban seats loaded to maximise rural weight. (p. 9)	Per-seat voter counts against quota, with average loads and unloads by province (e.g. Witwatersrand +7.6%, Pretoria +5.4%, Transvaal rural -12.9%).	Systematic data
Contrary to popular belief, loading and unloading is not simply urban versus rural; several 'rural' seats have been loaded more often than not since 1910, and expected future growth is not a permissible ground. (p. 7)	Statutory reading of section 40(3) plus the Commission's reading of previous delimitation records.	Asserted
The Cape's large area and lack of dense urban areas limited how far its rural seats could be unloaded, and Calvinia was abolished because the Great Karoo region had maintained its voting strength least. (p. 13)	Voter deficits by region (e.g. Calvinia 21.6% below quota against Graaff-Reinet 15.3%) and the Cape's 58.6% share of Union area.	Partial data
The two new Transvaal seats were placed at Vereeniging/Vanderbijlpark and on the northern perimeter of the Witwatersrand because the growth in voters was concentrated in the Pretoria-Vereeniging-Krugersdorp-Springs 'diamond'. (p. 29)	Voter counts by area: Pretoria area +15.7%, Witwatersrand +19.4%, rural +21.9%; Vereeniging 9,089 to 17,336; Kempton Park 47.9% above quota.	Systematic data
Natal lost its Klip River seat because Durban and Pietermaritzburg held enough voters while the rural seats fell short; the Commission would not transfer urban Durban voters to rural seats. (p. 24)	Seat-by-seat percentages relative to quota and counts of rural voters (50,177) against requirements.	Partial data
Goldfields and industrial expansion (Welkom, Odendaalsrus, Vanderbijlpark, Blyvooruitzicht) drove large voter concentrations that required new seats in the Free State and Transvaal. (p. 38)	Voter counts: Kroonstad 8,962 to 16,859; Winburg provincial seat 98.4% above quota; Vanderbijlpark 4,802 voters.	Systematic data

The author's caveats¶

The Commission notes that it used voter lists corrected only to 30 April 1952 because later correction would have delayed its work. It also admits that statistical constraints sometimes forced undesirable results, such as Wepener and the elongated Fauresmith-Boshof seat.

Gaps in the evidence¶

This is a statutory commission report, so the voter lists are the only quantitative basis; the report carries no population or racial composition data, though voters' lists included non-white Cape and Natal voters. It gives no systematic account of party proposals or evidence, and no data on voter turnout or party preference, so claims about 'community of interest' rest on assertion. The full lists and party memoranda may be in the state archives.

Replicability: Data described but not public.