Pretoria Central (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

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]

Pretoria Central was first created in 1915, as part of a general increase in representation for the Transvaal. It was the third constituency in Pretoria, alongside Pretoria West and East, and several others would be created over the years. Its first MP, Edward Rooth, was elected for the Unionist Party, but defected to the governing South African Party well ahead of the parties' formal merger. From then until 1948, the seat generally favoured the SAP and its successor, the United Party, but the Herenigde Nasionale Party captured the seat in 1948 as part of their nationwide victory. The NP held the seat for the remainder of its existence, in spite of challenges from the UP in the early years and the Conservative Party towards the end. Its final MP, Gert Oosthuizen, had a long political career after the end of apartheid, eventually joining the ANC and serving as a deputy minister until 2019.