Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951/1956-05-18

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To make provision for the separate representation in Parliament and in the provincial council of the province of the Cape of Good Hope of Europeans and non-Europeans in that province, and to that end to amend the law relating to the registration of Europeans and non-Europeans as voters for Parliament and for the said provincial council; to amend the law relating to the registration of non-Europeans and natives in the province of Natal as voters for Parliament and for the provincial council of Natal; to establish a Union Council for Coloured Affairs; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.

as amended by

Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, No. 30 of 1956

12. (1) The qualification for election under this Act as a member of the provincial council of the Cape of Good Hope shall be the qualification prescribed in sub-section (2) of section seventy of the South Africa Act, 1909, save that—

in addition residence for two years within the province of the Cape of Good Hope shall be a necessary requirement;

any person qualified to vote for the election of a member of the provincial council in terms of the Representation of Natives Act, 1936 (Act No. 12 of 1936), shall not be qualified for election as a member of the said provincial council;

a person shall not be qualified for election as a member of the said provincial council unless he is a white person.

(2) The provisions of section seventy-two of the South Africa Act, 1909, shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to all provincial councillors elected under this Act.

(3) The aforesaid provincial councillors shall not have the right to vote at an election of senators under paragraph (ii) of section twenty-five of the South Africa Act, 1909, but shall otherwise have all the rights, powers, privileges and immunities which provincial councillors elected under the South Africa Act have, and shall be subject to all the duties and obligations to which such provincial councillors are subject.

14. (1) A Union Council for Coloured Affairs (hereinafter called the Council) consisting of three non-European members for each Union electoral division who shall be elected and fifteen non-European members who shall be nominated by the Governor-General is hereby established with effect from a date to be fixed by the Governor-General by proclamation in the Gazette.

(2) (a) Of the fifteen non-European members to be nominated—

eight members of whom at least one shall be a member of the race or class known as the Cape Malays and at least one shall be a member of the race or class known as the Griquas shall represent the province of the Cape of Good Hope;

two members shall represent the province of Natal;

one member shall represent the province of the Orange Free State; and

four members shall represent the province of the Transvaal.

(b) No person shall be nominated as a member unless—

he qualifies mutatis mutandis, in terms of paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of subsection (l) of section four of the principal Act; and

he has resided for a period of two years immediately prior to the date of his appointment in the province that he is nominated to represent and continues to reside therein.

(3) Any person who is registered in the Cape Coloured voters’ list and has in addition resided in the province of the Cape of Good Hope for a period of two years immediately prior to the date of his election and continues to reside therein, shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the Council.

(4) There shall be constituted an executive committee of the Council consisting of five members of the Council of whom two shall be elected by the members of the Council and three shal1 be designated by the Governor-General.

(5) The Governor-General shall designate one of the members of the executive committee as the chairman of the Council.

(6) The chairman of the Council shall also be the chairman of the executive committee.

(7) The chairman shall in addition to his deliberative vote have in the case of an equality of votes, a casting vote.

(8) Until such time as the chairman of the Council has been designated, or whenever the chairman is absent from any meeting of the Council or of the executive committee, the Commissioner for Coloured Affairs shall act as the chairman of the Council, or, as the case may be, of the executive committee, and shall when so acting have a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes, but no deliberative vote.

(9) The chairman of the Council and the members of the executive committee shall vacate their office as such when they vacate their seats as members of the Council.

(10) The following persons shall have the right to attend the meetings of the Council and of the executive committee and to take part in the deliberations, but shall not have the right to vote—

the Commissioner for Coloured Affairs;

a representative of the Department of Social Welfare;

a representative of the Department of Labour; and

a representative of the Administration of the province of the Cape of Good Hope.

(11) The Council may refer to the executive committee any matter falling within the functions of the Council for investigation and report and such recommendations as the committee may deem fit.

15. The persons whose names appear in the Cape Coloured voters’ list for any Union electoral division, shall be entitled to elect three members of the Council to represent that electoral division.

(2) If the number of Union electoral divisions is altered as provided in sub-section (4) of section nine, the four Union electoral divisions existing before such alteration shall be deemed to persist as for the purpose of any election of members of the Council, unless and until any contrary provision is made by law.

16. (1) The members of the Council shall hold their seats for a period of five years from the date of election or appointment as the case may be: Provided that, in the case of a candidate who is declared elected in terms of sub-section (8) of section thirty-six of the principal Act, his tenure of office shall continue for a period of five years from the date on which polling would have taken place, if a poll had been necessary.

(2) If the seat of any member of the Council or of the executive committee becomes vacant before the date of expiry of his tenure of office, another person shall, if the seat becoming vacant—

is that of a nominated or designated member, be nominated or designated in his stead by the Governor-General;

is that of an elected member, be elected in his stead,

and the person so nominated, designated or elected shall be entitled to hold the seat until the aforesaid date of expiry.

(3) The persons mentioned in sub-section (10) of section fourteen shall have the right to attend the meetings of the Council ex officio and the representatives mentioned under paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of the said sub-section shall respectively be nominated from time to time by the head of the department concerned.

17. If a member of the Council—

ceases to be qualified to be nominated or elected, as the case may be; or

fails for a whole ordinary session to attend the Council without the special leave of the Council,

his office shall become vacant.

18. The functions of the Council are—

to advise the Government of the Union at its request on all matters affecting the economic, social, educational and political interests of the non-European population of the Union;

to make recommendations to the Government of the Union in regard to any projects calculated to serve the best interests of the said population;

to act in general as an intermediary and a means of contact and consultation between the Government of the Union and the said population;

to carry out such statutory or other administrative functions as may be assigned to the Council by the Governor-General.

19. The Minister may make regulations in regard to—

the sessions of the Council, including the venue of such sessions;

the procedure at sessions of the Council, including the quorum and method of voting;

the appointment, subject to the laws governing the public service, of such officials as may be required to assist the Council in carrying out its functions;

the transmission of the resolutions and reports of the Council;

the payment of fees and allowances to the members of the Council: Provided that in regard to members of the Council who are in the whole-time employ of the State, such regulations shall be framed in consultation with the Public Service Commission: Provided further that such regulations shall provide for the payment of an annual allowance of not less than three hundred pounds to the chairman of the Council, two hundred pounds to the other members of the executive committee and one hundred and twenty pounds to the other members of the Council.

20. (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (4) of section four and of sub-sections (3), (4) and (5) of this section, the provisions of the principal Act (including the regulations thereunder) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply in regard to the election of members of the House of Assembly, of the provincial council for the province of the Cape of Good Hope, and of members of the Council under this Act, and in regard to all matters incidental thereto.

(2) The first elections of members of the House of Assembly, or of provincial councillors under this Act, shall not take place until—

in consequence of the dissolution of the House of Assembly under any provision of the South Africa Act, 1909, a general election for the House of Assembly is to take place or until (as the case may be) by virtue of the expiry of the term of office of the provincial council for the province of the Cape of Good Hope in terms of section seventy-three of the said Act, a general election for the said provincial council is to take place; and

there has been a new Union delimitation.

(3) (a) The election of members of the House of Assembly or of provincial councillors under this Act shall take place not less than eight days before the date proclaimed for polling day in terms of paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of section thirty-five of the principal Act for the purposes of a general election.

(b) For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of paragraph (a), a special proclamation shall be issued in terms mutatis mutandis of section thirty-five of the principal Act.

(4) In regard to elections of members of the Council, the provisions of the principal Act shall apply, mutatis mutandis, as if they were elections for members of the House of Assembly, save that—

the deposit or security required in terms of section thirty-seven of the principal Act, shall be the sum of fifteen pounds;

in cases where more candidates than the number of candidates to be elected at any election are nominated in respect of any division, a voter, upon receipt of a ballot paper, shall mark the said paper on the right-hand side with a cross in the space provided opposite the name of each of the candidates or the candidate for whom he wishes to vote;

any ballot paper on which votes are marked for more candidates than the number of candidates for which the voter is entitled to vote, shall be invalid and shall not be counted, and any ballot paper on which a vote is marked for only one candidate, shall be counted as a number of votes for that candidate equal to the number of candidates to be elected at that election;

when the counting of the ballot papers has been completed, the returning officer shall declare the candidates for whom the highest number of votes have been recorded, to be duly elected. In cases where two or more candidates receive an equal number of votes and all of such candidates cannot be declared elected, the returning officer shall immediately, in the presence of all persons present at the count, settle by drawing of lots which of such candidates shall be declared elected.

(5) The Minister may make regulations to provide for the special requirements relating to the procedure to be followed at elections under the provisions of this Act, which regulations may amend or modify or differ from any regulations framed under the principal Act.