Apartheid legislation in South Africa |
---|
Precursors (before 1948)
Hut tax (1884)
Franchise and Ballot Act (1892)
Glen Grey Act (1894)
Natal Legislative Assembly Bill (1894)
Transvaal Asiatic Registration Act (1906)
South Africa Act (1909)
Mines and Works Act (1911 as amended)
Natives Land Act (1913)
Natives (Urban Areas) Act (1923)
Immorality Act (1927)
Native Administration Act (1927)
Representation of Natives Act (1936)
Native Trust and Land Act (1936)
Native (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act (1945)
Asiatic Land Tenure Act (1946)
From Malan to Verwoerd (1948–1966)
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949)
Immorality Amendment Act † (1950)
Population Registration Act (1950)
Group Areas Act (1950)
Suppression of Communism Act (1950)
Native Building Workers Act (1951)
Separate Representation of Voters Act (1951)
Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act (1951)
Bantu Authorities Act (1951)
Native Laws Amendment Act † (1952)
Pass Laws Act (1952)
Public Safety Act (1953)
Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act (1953)
Bantu Education Act (1953)
Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953)
Natives Resettlement Act (1954)
Group Areas Development Act (1955)
Riotous Assemblies Act (1956)
Industrial Conciliation Act (1956)
Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act (1956)
Immorality Act (1957)
Bantu Investment Corporation Act (1959)
Extension of University Education Act (1959)
Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act (1959)
Unlawful Organizations Act (1960)
Indemnity Act (1961)
Coloured Persons Communal Reserves Act (1961)
Republic of South Africa Constitution Act (1961)
Urban Bantu Councils Act (1961)
General Law Amendment Act (1963)
After Verwoerd (1966–1994)
Terrorism Act (1967)
Coloured Persons Representative Council
Amendment Act † (1968)
Prohibition of Political Interference Act (1968)
Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act (1970)
Bantu Homelands Constitution Act (1971)
Aliens Control Act (1973)
Indemnity Act (1977)
Black Local Authorities Act (1982)
Republic of South Africa Constitution Act (1983)
† No new legislation introduced, rather
the existing legislation named was amended.
The Separate Representation of Voters Act No. 46 was introduced in South Africa on 18 June 1951. Part of the legislation during the apartheid era, the National Party introduced it to enforce racial segregation, and was the start of a deliberate process to remove all non-white people from the voters' roll.
This act was declared invalid by the Supreme Court when challenged in the case of Harris v Minister of the Interior 1952(2) SA 428(AD). The government, however, was able to circumvent this decision by increasing the number of Appellate Division judges from five to eleven, and increasing the size of the Senate from forty-eight to forty-nine. These changes enabled the government to successfully introduce the South Africa Act Amendment Act No 9 of 2 March 1956, effectively overturning the Supreme Court's decision and revalidating the act. This amendment was repealed by the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act 32 of 1961.
The act as a whole was repealed by section 4 of the Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act No 50 of 27 March 1968. This bill introduced the Coloured Persons Representative Council, consisting of forty elected members and twenty nominated members. This council could make laws on finance, local government, education, community welfare and pensions, rural settlements and agriculture which affected coloured people. A bill could only be introduced when approved by the Minister of Coloured Relations, as well as requiring the approval of the white Cabinet. This act was repealed in 1983 by section 101(1) of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act No 110.
References
External links
- Copy of the Separate Representation of Voters Act, Act No 46 of 1951 from the DISA library of the University of KwaZulu-Natal
- Copy of the Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, Act No 30 of 1956 from the DISA library of the University of KwaZulu-Natal