The first challenge to the Cape Qualified Franchise came with the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931, which extended the vote to women and removed property qualifications for the white population only – non-white voters remained subject to the earlier restrictions.

He would represent the seat until his retirement from politics in 1942, at which point former South Peninsula MP Sidney Waterson was elected to replace him.

The new Claremont seat was similar to the old one, and retained its liberal politics – its first MP was Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, leader of the Progressive Federal Party, who had previously represented Rondebosch.

Slabbert left parliamentary politics in 1986, frustrated by his inability to fight apartheid from within, but the PFP and its successor the Democratic Party continued to hold the seat until the last apartheid-era election in 1989.

In 1992, the seat's last MP, Jan van Eck, was part of a group of DP MPs who defected to the African National Congress, although they were treated as independents for parliamentary purposes.