7. c. 9) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Union of South Africa out of the former Cape, Natal, Orange River, and Transvaal colonies.

[1] The Act also allowed for potential admission of Rhodesia into the Union, a proposal rejected by Rhodesian colonists in a 1922 referendum.

As in other British Dominions, the Governor-General appointed the leader of the largest political party in the lower house of Parliament as Prime Minister.

The composition and election of the Senate would later be modified as part of the move towards apartheid and the establishment of the Republic of South Africa.

Unlike the Australian model (but like the Indian one), no double dissolution election occurred before a joint sitting, further strengthening the position of the House of Assembly and the Prime Minister over the Senate.

In addition, the Supreme Court could review Parliamentary amendments of the entrenched clauses of the South Africa Act of 1909.

[9] Unlike Canada and Australia, which became dominions through the Federation of British colonies, the South Africa Act created a centralized, unitary state.

The Cape Colony had long adhered to a system of non-racial franchise, whereby qualifications for suffrage were applied equally to all males, regardless of race.

During the union negotiations, the last Cape Prime Minister, John X. Merriman, and Sir Walter Stanford, representing the Transkei and other African communities, fought unsuccessfully to have this multi-racial franchise system extended to the rest of South Africa.

[10][11] The South Africa Act permitted the Cape Province to keep a restricted version of its traditional franchise, whereby qualifications limited the suffrage of all citizens according to education and wealth.

This meant that the Cape, and to a far lesser degree Natal, having coloureds (mixed-race people) and Black Africans in the voting rolls.