Editing Cape Province (section)

===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>