Report of the Fourteenth Delimitation Commission (Proclamation No. 187, 1980)¶
Cillié, P. M.; Broeksma, C.; Hefer, J. J. F. (1980). Report of the Fourteenth Delimitation Commission (Proclamation No. 187, 1980). Government Gazette (Staatskoerant) Vol. 184, No. 7246, 3 October 1980. Government Printer, Pretoria.
| Type | primary source |
| Scope | Wider apartheid literature |
| Method | primary document |
| Period studied | 1973–1980 |
| Regions | South Africa, Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Walvis Bay, Bophuthatswana, Venda |
| Themes | politics ideology elections, bantustans removals influx, demography urbanisation |
| Citation key | cillie1980 |
Argument¶
This is the official report of the Fourteenth Delimitation Commission, which divided the Republic into 165 House of Assembly divisions on the basis of white voters' lists only. It explains how boundaries were redrawn after the 1979 registration, and how quotas, permitted 'loads' and 'unloads' of up to 15% (70% for very large divisions) were applied under section 43 of the Constitution Act. The main pressures were depopulation of the platteland and of inner-city centres, rapid growth of peripheral suburbs and mining or industrial areas, and the 'independence' of Transkei, Bophuthatswana and Venda. The report is a technical administrative record, not an argument. It is a primary source on the geography of white electoral power at the time of the 1980s crisis.
Evidence and method¶
Voters' lists from the 1979 general registration, corrected by supplementary registration to 31 March 1980. Written and oral submissions from the National Party, Progressive Federal Party and New Republic Party. Interviews with officials, field visits, and maps. Annexures give division-level voter numbers and loads/unloads, and boundary descriptions.
Place in the debates¶
- Rural over-representation (loading and unloading) in the white electoral system (see White electoral politics, delimitation and party systems). Does not argue the point. It records the legal basis (a 15% departure from the quota, or 70% for divisions of 25 000 km² or more) and applies it, noting that high rural unloads allow only average loads in cities.
- Homeland 'independence' and the political geography of white voters (see White electoral politics, delimitation and party systems). Treats it as an administrative problem for boundary-drawing. It does not question the policy.
Findings¶
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The white electorate grew only modestly nationally, with the Transvaal growing fastest. (p. 8)
Transvaal ........•...... 1 172 961 1 036 192 134769 12,9% Republic ................ 2313 159 2 141 354 171 805 8%
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Provincial quotas differed markedly, and the commission refused to compare loads across provinces. (p. 8)
The Transvaal's quota is 1 414, or 10% higher than the average number of voters per electoral division in the RepUblic.
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The statutory rules allow rural divisions to be deliberately under-populated relative to the quota. (p. 8)
in no case to any greater extent than fifteen per cent more or fifteen per cent less than the quota: Provided that in the case of an electoral division with an area of twenty-five thousand square kilometres or more
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The commission applied a principle of allotting more voters to urban than to rural divisions. (p. 10)
The principle that, after consideration of all the other relevant factors, more voters should be allocated to urban than to rural divisions was again applied.
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Inner-city white voter numbers fell sharply in the three largest cities, leading to abolition of divisions. (p. 10)
In three big cities, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, the central areas showed such a sharp drop in the number of voters that divisions had to be abolished.
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Voters residing in the 'independent' homelands were still registered in South African divisions. (p. 4)
shall, provided he is otherwise qualified for registration, be registered in the division in which is situated the magistrate's office in the Republic which is the nearest to his home as the crow flies
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The creation of Bophuthatswana forced boundary changes and the abolition of Marico. (p. 36)
This resulted in major boundary changes as well as in the disappearance of the Electoral Division of Marico.
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The Transvaal platteland continued to depopulate, which explains its large unloads. (p. 35)
the platteland has undergone appreciable depopulation and that your Commission tried to keep the residents of large towns and cities together in electoral divisions where possible
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The Durban decline in voters led to the loss of one urban seat in favour of a rural seat. (p. 28)
The net increase in the number of voters in rural and semi-urban electoral divisions was 22 896 (19%), compared with a decrease of 9 818 (9%) in Durban.
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Interests of mining and industrial voters were used to group divisions. (p. 9)
it was decided to transfer Carletonville's rural voters to other divisions and to group the town, with its mining interests, with adjoining mining areas in the same electoral division.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voters' lists from the 1979 general registration of voters, corrected by supplementary registrations to 31 March 1980 (the 'fixed date') | official statistical series | 1979 registration, corrected to 31 March 1980 | Supplies the white voter counts by province, division and polling district that fix the provincial quotas and every load/unload figure in the delimitation. |
| Voter figures at the Thirteenth Delimitation Commission (31 May 1973) | commission or official report | 1973 | Provides the baseline voter numbers against which growth or decline in each province and division is calculated. |
| Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961 (Act 32 of 1961), sections 40, 42, 43, 44, as amended (incl. Act 79 of 1973 and Third Amendment Act 1980) | legislation gazette | 1961-1980 | Sets the 165-seat allocation, the quota formula based on white voters, the ±15% (70% for large divisions) tolerance and the factors the Commission must weigh. |
| Alteration of Provincial Boundaries Act, No. 36 of 1978 | legislation gazette | 1978 | Establishes the transfer of Griqualand East and named polling districts to Natal, forcing abolition of the Griqualand East division. |
| Electoral Act, No. 45 of 1979, section 11(4A)/(4B), and Electoral Amendment Act, No. 89 of 1980 | legislation gazette | 1979-1980 | Determines registration of South African citizens resident in 'independent' homelands in the division of the nearest magistrate's office. |
| Proclamations R. 202 (31 August 1977) and R. 248 (30 September 1977) on Walvis Bay | legislation gazette | 1977 | Returns Walvis Bay to administration by the Cape Province, which creates the problem of placing its voters (decided as Green Point). |
| Proclamation 27 of 1974 (polling districts as published 22 February 1974) | legislation gazette | 1974 | Provides the polling district framework to which the Surveyors-General's boundary descriptions refer. |
| Public hearings and written representations of the National Party, Progressive Federal Party and New Republic Party | employer association records | April-July 1980 | Party schemes and comments are the main evidence for designing divisions and are often adopted by the Commission. |
| Commission's interviews with officials and correspondence from unaffiliated persons and organisations | interviews oral history | 1980 | Technical information on delimitation and local interests, considered alongside party proposals. |
| Maps of provinces, regions and cities with electoral divisions and polling districts, and local authority maps | maps spatial data | 1980 | Basis for locating polling districts, municipal and magisterial boundaries and drawing the new divisions. |
| Report of the Thirteenth Delimitation Commission (1973) and its division boundaries | commission or official report | 1973 | Existing boundaries and prior loads serve as a starting point and constraint, and prior commission principles are cited. |
| Surveyors-General boundary descriptions and marked maps (Annexures 2 and 3) | official statistical series | 1980 | Formal certified descriptions of the final electoral divisions by polling district, farm and township boundaries. |
| Annexure 1: lists of electoral divisions with voter numbers and loads/unloads | official statistical series | 31 March 1980 | Tabulates final white voter numbers and percentage load or unload by division for each province. |
New data¶
The Commission compiled corrected white-voter lists to 31 March 1980 and derived quotas, loads/unloads and voter tables for all 165 House of Assembly divisions (and Orange Free State provincial divisions), with statistics prepared by the Secretary for the Interior.
Inference¶
Quantification: Descriptive tables.
Administrative and legal procedure: statutory quota arithmetic applied to corrected white voter lists, then discretionary boundary drawing weighing the statutory criteria (community of interests, communications, physical features, existing boundaries, density, population trends, local boundaries) after party submissions. No causal analysis; reasoning is case-by-case division descriptions and voter-count comparisons with 1973.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| The white voter roll grew 8% nationally between 1973 and 1980 but unevenly: 12.9% in the Transvaal versus 2% in the Cape, 5.5% in Natal and 5.2% in the Free State. (p. 8) | Corrected 1979/80 voters' lists compared with the 1973 delimitation figures, tabulated by province. | Systematic data |
| Provincial quotas differ sharply (Cape 12 626; Natal 13 283; OFS 12 863; Transvaal 15 433), so the Transvaal quota is 10% above the Republic average per division. (p. 8) | Statutory quota formula applied to provincial voter totals and fixed seat allocations (55, 20, 14, 76). | Systematic data |
| Central city divisions in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban lost voters so sharply that divisions had to be abolished, while peripheral urban areas grew. (p. 10) | Division-level voter counts from the 1980 lists versus 1973, e.g. Durban's eight divisions down 9 818 (9%). | Systematic data |
| Rural 'platteland' divisions declined in white voters and were deliberately left unloaded (below quota) while urban divisions were loaded, so rural seats were over-represented. (p. 10) | Division loads/unloads computed from voters' lists, plus the statutory ±15% and 70% allowances and an explicit 'urban loading' principle. | Partial data |
| Griqualand East was abolished and a new Greytown division created in Natal following the 1978 boundary change and independence of Transkei, which shrank the special divisions. (p. 13) | Alteration of Provincial Boundaries Act 1978; remaining voter counts in Griqualand East (6 195) and Aliwal (8 279). | Systematic data |
| Creation of 'independent' homelands (Bophuthatswana, Venda) forced redrawing of divisions in the Cape, OFS and Transvaal, including abolition of Marico, and homeland residents were registered as South African voters in the nearest magistracy. (p. 36) | Electoral Act 1979 and Amendment Act 1980; map-based inspection of territory and voter counts transferred (e.g. Marico voters moved to Waterberg, Lichtenburg, Ventersdorp). | Partial data |
| Walvis Bay's 2 976 voters were placed in Green Point, near Cape Town, rather than Namaqualand or Moorreesburg. (p. 21) | Party proposals, Proclamation R.202 of 1977, and the Commission's judgement on communications and convenience of representatives. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
The author's caveats¶
The Commission notes that the voters' lists from the 1979 registration were 'not complete enough' and were only partly corrected, and that evidence on common interests is 'generalisations that have not been scientifically tested' and on population growth 'not always convincing'. It also notes polling and magisterial boundaries did not always coincide and that it did not collect full information on this.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The document counts only registered white voters and gives no figures for total population, Black, Coloured or Indian residents, so it cannot show how the franchise and homeland policy shaped representation; census data (1970/1980 population censuses) existed but were not used. Claims about community of interest and population growth rest on party assertions rather than demographic or economic data (e.g. census or housing statistics) that existed in 1980. Registration completeness could be checked against population censuses, and the hearing transcripts and party submissions, which are not reproduced here, would be needed to test the Commission's account.
Replicability: Data described but not public.