Representative government was nonetheless instituted in 1853, and Sir Andries was approached to run for election to the new Cape Parliament to represent the Eastern Divisions.
To meet the expenses of the campaign and of the destruction of his property, he arranged for the subdivision of a part of Maasström (one-third of the 4 985 morgen) as a township, which was named Bedford, after Sir Andries’s friend, the 8th Duke of Bedford.

Following a heated electoral campaign, Sir Andries defeated his old enemy, Godlonton – despite renewed publication of all the old accusations against him in Godlonton’s newspaper, the Graham’s Town Journal.

As a member of the Cape legislative council, Sir Andries piloted the passage of the Divisional Councils Act, which in his view restored a link between the government and the governed, which had been broken in 1828 (with the abolition of landdrosts).
He also supported the passing of the Burgher Force Bill, which placed the local Cape commandos on an equal footing with the British imperial military.

In one of his final political acts, he gave his support to the infant movement for "Responsible Government" in the Cape, as a way to curtail what he saw as the ineptitude and injustice of direct British rule in Southern Africa.

In other respects, he was frustrated.
The Khoikhoi settlement on the Kat River was broken up, and little was done to rein in frontier warmongers and land speculators.
Representative government was nonetheless instituted in 1853, and Sir Andries was approached to run for election to the new Cape Parliament to represent the Eastern Divisions. To meet the expenses of the campaign and of the destruction of his property, he arranged for the subdivision of a part of Maasström (one-third of the 4 985 morgen) as a township, which was named Bedford, after Sir Andries’s friend, the 8th Duke of Bedford.
Following a heated electoral campaign, Sir Andries defeated his old enemy, Godlonton – despite renewed publication of all the old accusations against him in Godlonton’s newspaper, the Graham’s Town Journal.
As a member of the Cape legislative council, Sir Andries piloted the passage of the Divisional Councils Act, which in his view restored a link between the government and the governed, which had been broken in 1828 (with the abolition of landdrosts). He also supported the passing of the Burgher Force Bill, which placed the local Cape commandos on an equal footing with the British imperial military.
In one of his final political acts, he gave his support to the infant movement for "Responsible Government" in the Cape, as a way to curtail what he saw as the ineptitude and injustice of direct British rule in Southern Africa.
In other respects, he was frustrated. The Khoikhoi settlement on the Kat River was broken up, and little was done to rein in frontier warmongers and land speculators.
Andries Stockenström