Page:Republic of South Africa Constitution Act 1983 from Government Gazette.djvu/17

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Act No. 110, 1983

Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1983

House in question, into the same number of electoral divisions as the number of such members of that House, in such a manner that no electoral division is situated partly in one province and partly in another province.

(2) No judge shall be appointed under subsection (1) as a member of a delimitation commission unless he has served as a judge, whether in a permanent or temporary capacity, for a total period of not less than five years.

(3) In dividing the Republic into electoral divisions in terms of subsection (1) the delimitation commission shall act in accordance with the provisions of section 49.

Method of dividing provinces into electoral divisions.

49. (1) For the purposes of the division of a province into electoral divisions of a House, the quota of the province for the House shall be obtained, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), by dividing the number of voters of the House in the province in terms of the current voters’ lists, duly corrected up to the latest possible date, by the number of members of the House to be elected in the province in terms of section 41 (2), 42 (2) or 43 (2), as the case may be.

(2) A province shall be divided into electoral divisions of a House in such a manner that each such electoral division shall, subject to the provisions of subsections (3) and (4), contain a number of voters as nearly as may be equal to the quota of the province for the House.

(3) The delimitation commission shall give due consideration to―

(a)

community or diversity of interests;

(b)

means of communication;

(c)

physical features;

(d)

boundaries of existing electoral divisions;

(e)

sparsity or density of population;

(f)

probability of increase or decrease of population;

(g)

local authority and magisterial district boundaries,

in such manner that, while taking the quota of voters as the basis of division, the commission may depart from the quota whenever it is deemed necessary, but in no case to a greater extent than 15 per cent more or 15 per cent less than the quota: Provided that in the case of an electoral division with an area of 25 000 square kilometres or more, the commission may reduce the number of voters to a number equal to 70 per cent of the quota.

(4) (a) The port and settlement mentioned in the Walfish Bay and St John’s River Territories Annexation Act, 1884, of the Cape of Good Hope, and the territory surrounding it and bounded as described in that Act, shall be one of the electoral divisions into which the province of the Cape of Good Hope shall be divided for the election of members of the House of Assembly, and, as such electoral division, it shall be called Walvis Bay until different provision is made under section 50.

(b) The boundaries of such electoral division, as described in paragraph (a), shall not be altered by any delimitation commission, but in so far as may be necessary for the purposes of any provision of this Act or any other law those boundaries shall be deemed to have been settled by such commission.

(c) The provisions of this section in regard to the quota of a province and the number of voters of an electoral division shall not apply in connection with the electoral division referred to in paragraph (a), and in their application at any delimitation of the other electoral divisions in the province of the Cape of Good Hope for the election of members of the House of Assembly—

(i)

the port, settlement and territory mentioned in paragraph (a) shall be deemed not to be part of that province;

(ii)

the voters of that electoral division, in terms of the current voters’ list, duly corrected up to the latest