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.[1]
As a largely working-class seat, Jeppes was an early stronghold of the South African Labour Party. At the first general election in 1910, the seat was won by Labour party leader Frederic Creswell, who moved to the newly created seat of Bezuidenhout in 1915, and the rump Jeppes seat (renamed Siemert for this election only) was won by fellow Labour member Harry Sampson. Sampson would hold the seat until 1933, when he was defeated by Roos Party candidate Hjalmar Reitz, and starting from 1938 the seat would be held by the United Party'sBertha Solomon. Following Solomon's retirement in 1958, the seat became marginal, falling to the National Party in 1966 and again in 1977. The National candidate in 1977, Koos van der Merwe, defected to the Conservative Party on its foundation in 1982, but moved to the Overvaal constituency in 1987. That year, the Nationals won Jeppe back, and held it at the last whites-only election in 1989.
