The House of Delegates (Afrikaans: Raad van Afgevaardigdes) was a body in the Tricameral Parliament of South Africa which existed from 1984 to 1994. It was reserved for Indian South Africans. The body was elected twice; in 1984 and 1989. It was the second time in South Africa's history that Indians had ever had any sort of representation at the national level, the first being the South African Indian Council. It was originally to be called the Chamber of Deputies.[2]
House of Delegates Raad van Afgevaardigdes | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 1984 |
| Disbanded | 1994 |
| Preceded by | South African Indian Council |
| Succeeded by | National Assembly |
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post | |
Last election | 6 September 1989 |
| Meeting place | |
| Marks Building Cape Town, Cape Province (until 1987) New Assembly Building Houses of Parliament, Cape Town[1] | |
The first debating chamber of the House of Delegates was located in Marks Building, a building that was located across the road from Houses of Parliament, Cape Town. [3] Upon its completion in 1987, the house was moved to a debating chamber on the floor above the new chamber designed for joint-sittings of the Tricameral Parliament.[4] The executive arm of the House of Delegates was a Ministers' Council, led by a Chairman. The civil service that dealt with Indian "own affairs" (including education, health and welfare, local government, housing and agriculture)[5] was called Administration: House of Delegates, and was based in Durban.[5][6][7]
Elections
editElectoral turnouts for elections to the House of Delegates were poor.[7]
Election results:
| Election | Date | Total seats | National People's Party | Solidarity | Others | Indep. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 election | 28 August 1984 | 40 | 18 | 17 | 1 | 4 |
| 1989 election | 6 September 1989 | 40 | 8 | 16 | 10 | 6 |
Leadership
editThe following served as Chairman of the Minister's Council of the House of Delegates:[8]
- Amichand Rajbansi (September 1984 – 31 December 1988)
- Kassipershad Ramduth (1 January – 21 March 1989, acting)
- Jayaram Narainsamy Reddy (21 March 1989 – February 1993)
- Bhadra Ranchod (February 1993 – March 1994)
References
edit- ^ "Historical Context".
- ^ South Africa and the Consociational Option: A Constitutional Analysis, Laurence Boulle, Juta, 1984, page 152
- ^ Race Relations Survey, South African Institute of Race Relations, page 130
- ^ "Historical Context".
- ^ a b Congress, The Library of. "LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)". id.loc.gov.
- ^ Willem Johannes Schurink (1992). Victimization: Nature and Trends. HSRC Press. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-7969-1258-9.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ "South Africa".