Editing Cape Province (section)

==History==
When the [[Union of South Africa]] was formed in 1910, the original [[British Cape Colony|Cape 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 as [[British Bechuanaland]] (not to be confused with the [[Bechuanaland Protectorate]], now [[Botswana]]), [[Griqualand East]] (the area around [[Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal|Kokstad]]) and [[Griqualand West]] (area around [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]]). As a result, it encompassed two-thirds of South Africa's territory, and covered an area of approximately {{convert|717000|km2}}.

At the time of the formation of the [[Union of South Africa]], South Africa consisted of four provinces: [[Transvaal Province|Transvaal]] (previously the [[South African Republic]]), [[Natal Province|Natal]], [[Orange Free State (province)|Orange Free State]] and the Cape Province.

===Cape Franchise===
{{main|Cape Qualified Franchise}}
Before union, the [[British Cape Colony|Cape 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 of [[South Africa]]. This failed, as it was strongly opposed by the former Boer Republics which were determined to entrench [[white 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 where [[Coloured]]s (mixed-race people) and Black Africans could vote.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/souoverview5.htm |title=EISA South Africa: White domination and Black resistance (1881-1948) |access-date=25 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604151051/http://www.eisa.org.za///WEP/souoverview5.htm |archive-date=4 June 2012 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/south_africa/chapter2.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=6 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517050030/http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/south_africa/chapter2.pdf |archive-date=17 May 2006 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/soubg2.htm |title=EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements |access-date=25 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509080718/http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/soubg2.htm |archive-date=9 May 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In 1956, the [[Apartheid]] government removed all remaining suffrage rights for "non-whites". The government had to appoint many extra [[Senate of South Africa|senators]] in parliament to force through this change.<ref>Christoph Marx: ''Oxwagon Sentinel: Radical Afrikaner Nationalism and the History of the Ossewabrandwag''. LIT Verlag Münster, 2009. p.61.</ref>

===Partitioning under Apartheid===
During the [[apartheid]] 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 independent [[TBVC States]] and the six [[Bantustan#Self-governing entities|Non-Independent Homelands]].{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

In the Cape Province, the [[Transkei]] (1976) and [[Ciskei]] (1981) regions were declared independent of South Africa.<ref name="Homelands">{{cite web|title=The Homelands|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/homelands|website=South African History Online|access-date=31 December 2017}}</ref>  [[Griqualand East]] was transferred to [[Natal Province]] after Transkei was declared independent, since it was cut off from the rest of the province.  With the 1994 adoption of the [[Interim Constitution (South Africa)|Interim Constitution]], these homelands were re-incorporated into South Africa,<ref name="Homelands"/> both part of the new [[Eastern Cape]] province.

===Post-apartheid===
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 nine [[provinces of South Africa]]. Cape Province was broken up into three smaller provinces: the [[Western Cape]], [[Eastern Cape]] and [[Northern Cape]]. Parts of it were also absorbed into the [[North West (South African province)|North West]]. [[Walvis Bay]], a territory of the original Cape Colony, had been [[Cession|ceded]] to [[Namibia]] two months earlier.