| Province of the Cape of Good Hope Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop (Afrikaans) | |||||||||||||||
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| Province of South Africa | |||||||||||||||
| 1910–1994 | |||||||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||||||
 The Cape Province as it was by 1994 | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Cape Town | ||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||
• 1991 | 6,125,335[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Cape Provincial Council | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
• Established | 31 May 1910 | ||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 27 April 1994 | ||||||||||||||
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TheProvince of the Cape of Good Hope[2] (Afrikaans:Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as "theCape Province" (Afrikaans:Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as "The Cape" (Afrikaans:Die Kaap), was aprovince in theUnion of South Africa and subsequently theRepublic of South Africa. It encompassed the oldCape Colony, as well asWalvis Bay, and hadCape Town as its capital. In 1994, the Cape Province was divided into the newEastern Cape,Northern Cape andWestern Cape provinces, along with part of theNorth West.
When theUnion of South Africa was formed in 1910, the originalCape Colony was renamed the Cape Province.
It was by far the largest of South Africa's four provinces, as it contained regions it had previously annexed, such asBritish Bechuanaland (not to be confused with theBechuanaland Protectorate, nowBotswana),Griqualand East (the area aroundKokstad) andGriqualand West (area aroundKimberley). As a result, it encompassed two-thirds of South Africa's territory, and covered an area of approximately 717,000 square kilometres (277,000 sq mi).
At the time of the formation of theUnion of South Africa, South Africa consisted of four provinces:Transvaal (previously theSouth African Republic),Natal,Orange Free State and the Cape Province.
Before union, theCape Colony had traditionally implemented a system of non-racial franchise, whereby qualifications for suffrage were applied equally to all males, regardless of race. During the union negotiations, the Cape Prime Minister,John X. Merriman fought unsuccessfully to extend this multi-racial franchise system to the rest ofSouth Africa. This failed, as it was strongly opposed by the former Boer Republics which were determined to entrenchwhite rule. After union, the Cape Province was permitted to keep a restricted version of its multi-racial qualified franchise, and thus became the only province whereColoureds (mixed-race people) and Black Africans could vote.[3][4]
Over the following years, successive acts were passed to erode this colour-blind voters roll. In 1931, the restricting franchise qualifications were removed for white voters, but kept for Black and Coloured voters.[5] In 1956, theApartheid government removed all remaining suffrage rights for "non-whites". The government had to appoint many extrasenators in parliament to force through this change.[6]
During theapartheid era, so-called "bantustans" or homelands for the different Bantu nations were carved out of the existing provinces as part of the policy of perpetuating white control over South Africa. These became known as the four independentTBVC States and the sixNon-Independent Homelands.[citation needed]
In the Cape Province, theTranskei (1976) andCiskei (1981) regions were declared independent of South Africa.[7]Griqualand East was transferred toNatal Province after Transkei was declared independent, since it was cut off from the rest of the province. With the 1994 adoption of theInterim Constitution, these homelands were re-incorporated into South Africa,[7] both part of the newEastern Cape province.
After the first fully democratic elections in April 1994, the Transkei and Ciskei bantustans were reunited with Cape Province, then the country was divided into what are now the current nineprovinces of South Africa. Cape Province was broken up into three smaller provinces: theWestern Cape,Eastern Cape andNorthern Cape. Parts of it were also absorbed into theNorth West.Walvis Bay, a territory of the original Cape Colony, had beenceded toNamibia two months earlier.
Districts of the province and population at the 1991 census.[1]
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