Boshof, known as Boshof-Hoopstad for the 1948 general election, was a constituency in the Orange Free State Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1953. Named after the town of Boshof, the seat covered a rural area in the west of the province. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly. Franchise notes When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place. In the Orange River Colony, and its predecessor the Orange Free State, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Orange Free State Province were held on a whites-only franchise from the beginning. The franchise was also restricted by property and education qualifications until the 1933 general election, following the passage of the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931. From then on, the franchise was given to all white citizens aged 21 or over. Non-whites remained disenfranchised until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994.

History Boshof, like most of the Orange Free State, was a highly conservative seat throughout its existence and had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. Its first MP, , had led Boer forces during the South African War, and represented Boshof for fourteen years before resigning to take up a seat in the Senate, where he would sit for decades and serve as President of the body. Van Niekerk and his replacement, Josephus Janse van Rensburg, both represented the National Party, which counted Boshof among its safest seats in all of South Africa, usually winning over eighty percent of the vote.

In 1934, Nationalist Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog joined forces with Jan Smuts and the SAP to create the United Party, a move that was controversial with his Afrikaner base, and nineteen Nationalist MPs broke away to form the Purified National Party under D. F. Malan's leadership. Van Rensburg stayed loyal to Hertzog and was defeated in 1938 by PNP candidate Jan Jonathan Serfontein, in the only close race in the history of the constituency. Serfontein represented the seat for ten years before moving to neighbouring Fauresmith, at the same time Boshof was merged with the seat of Hoopstad to its east. Hoopstad's MP, Hendrik Schalk Erasmus, was elected to represent the unified seat, which would only exist for a single five-year term. In 1953, Boshof was merged with Fauresmith, while Hoopstad moved into the new seat of Odendaalsrus, to which Erasmus moved.

Members ElectionMemberParty 1910 Orangia Unie 1915 National 1920 1921 1924 1924 by Josephus Janse van Rensburg 1929 1933 1934 United 1938 Jan Jonathan Serfontein PNP 1939 HNP 1943 1948 H. S. Erasmus 1953 constituency abolished Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).

Detailed results Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

References