House of Representatives (South Africa)

The House of Representatives (Afrikaans: Raad van Verteënwoordigers) was an 80-seat body in the Tricameral Parliament of South Africa which existed from 1984-1994. It was reserved for Coloured South Africans. The body was elected twice; in 1984 and 1989. Electoral turnouts for the House of Representatives were poor.[1]

House of Representatives Raad van Verteënwoordigers
Type
Type	Coloured representative house
History
Established	1984
Disbanded	1994
Preceded by	Coloured Persons' Representative Council
Succeeded by	National Assembly
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	6 September 1989
Meeting place
Houses of Parliament Cape Town Cape Province, South Africa

The House of Representatives met in the former Senate chamber in the Houses of Parliament, Cape Town. [2] The executive arm of the House of Representatives was a Ministers' Council, led by a Chairman. The civil service that dealt with Coloured "own affairs" (including education, health and welfare, local government, housing and agriculture) was called the Administration: House of Representatives, and was based in Cape Town.[3][4]

Results

In 1984, the House was dominated by the Labour Party, which won 76 of the 80 seats.

In 1989, the Labour Party lost support but still maintained a majority of seats with 69. Other parties represented included the Democratic Reform Party, United Democratic Party, Freedom Party and 2 independents. The 1989 house was almost entirely dominated by men, with only 1 female elected.[5]

Election	Date	Total seats	Labour Party	Others	Indep.
1984 election	22 August 1984	80	76	3	1
1989 election	6 September 1989	80	69	9	2

Chairman of the Ministers' Council

• Helenand "Allan" Hendrickse (September 1984 - 3 February 1992)
• Jakobus "Jac" A. Rabie (3 February 1992 - March 1994) [6]

References

1. AF Press Clips. Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. Department of State. 1984. pp. 7–.
2. Race Relations Survey, South African Institute of Race Relations, page 130
3. Behrens, Gerd (October 1989). THE OTHER TWO HOUSES The first five years of the Houses of Representatives and Delegates (PDF) (PhD). Cape Town: University of Cape Town. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 July 2020.
4. Willem Johannes Schurink (1992). Victimization: Nature and Trends. HSRC Press. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-7969-1258-9.
5. "SOUTH AFRICA: parliamentary elections House of Representatives, 1989". www.ipu.org. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
6. https://www.worldstatesmen.org/South_Africa.html