This Day in History: 17 June 1924
After losing the Wakkerstroom and Oudtshoorn by-elections in April, prime minister and leader of the South African Party (SAP), J.C. Smuts, decided to hold a general election in 1924. The SAP suffered a defeat at the hands of the Nationalist Party (NP), which won sixty-three seats, and Labour Party winning eighteen seats, with the SAP securing only fifty-three seats. After the election, the National Party and Labour Party formed a pact government, with General J.B.M. Hertzog in the position of prime minister. Hertzog appointed two Labour Party members, F.H.P. Creswell and Thomas Boydell to his Cabinet.