Roodepoort was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed for the inaugural Union election in 1910, and again from 1920 to 1994. It covered an area of the West Rand centred on the town of Roodepoort (now part of Johannesburg). Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal Provincial Council.

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 Transvaal Colony, and its predecessor the South African Republic, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Transvaal 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 The mines of the Witwatersrand were an early stronghold of South African trade unionism, and this made Roodepoort fertile ground for the Labour Party. At its first election, it was won by an Independent Labour candidate, Charles Henry Haggar, who narrowly defeated a Unionist candidate and held the seat until its abolition at the 1915 delimitation.

Roodepoort's absence from the electoral map wouldn't be long-lived, however, and the seat returned in 1920, once again as a Labour safe seat. Its new MP, Reverend John Mullineux, was elected comfortably over a divided opposition in 1920, and held the seat by good margins in 1921 and 1924. In 1929, with the Labour Party in civil war over whether to continue supporting the J. B. M. Hertzog-led coalition government, Mullineux stood down and the seat was won by Charles Stallard of the South African Party. Stallard was one of a handful of English-speaking SAP politicians to reject the party's merger into the United Party, forming the Dominion Party to advocate for his pro-British beliefs. The Dominion Party quickly became a Natal-centric party, but Stallard stood for re-election in Roodepoort in 1938, losing to the UP candidate by a smaller margin than any other Dominion candidate in the Transvaal.

Over time, like many other working-class seats on the Rand, Roodepoort became a safe seat for the governing National Party. Its longest-serving MP, Michiel Coenraad Botha, served in cabinet under John Vorster and retired in 1977. His successor, Willem Jacobus Cuyler, went unopposed in 1981, but this doesn't seem to have indicated lasting support for the governing party in the constituency, because in 1987 he lost it to the rising Conservative Party. Roodepoort was one of only three seats in major urban areas (along with Brakpan and Pretoria West) to vote for that party, and they held it until the end of apartheid.

Members ElectionMemberParty 1910 C. H. Haggar Independent Labour 1915 Constituency abolished ElectionMemberParty 1920 John Mullineux Labour 1921 1924 1929 Charles Stallard South African 1933 1934 Dominion 1938 F. B. Allen United 1943 1948 1953 M. C. Botha National 1958 1961 1966 1970 1974 1977 W. J. Cuyler 1981 1987 J. J. S. Prinsloo Conservative 1989 1994 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). 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.

Detailed results Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

References