Short and Long Term Influence on Soil Erosion of Settlement by Peasant Farmers in Kwazulu Natal

This paper describes a study carried out in a subarid riverine and interior lowland area of the Mfolozi catchment. The area was depopulated in the early 19th Century, and remained unoccupied until 1958 when Zulu peasants were settled there as part of the apartheid government's "betterment" scheme. Five sets of sequential aerial photographs taken between 1937 and 1983 were used to obtain estimates of temporal and spatial variations in eroded surfaces, sparsely vegetated surfaces susceptible to erosion, and active gullies. Eroded and sparsely vegetated surfaces were very localised prior to settlement and increased dramatically during the first few years after settlement. While they continued to increase over the following two decades, they did so at substantially lower rates. The increasing trend in eroded surfaces was reversed by the mid 1970s wet spell. The sparsely vegetated surfaces also contracted during this wet spell, but then expanded during the early 1980s dry spell. The initial influence of settlement on both these surfaces was due to deforestation associated with the establishment and linkage of homesteads and arable land. Thereafter, cultivation regulated the eroded surfaces while deforestation, annual dry season veld burning and overstocking all played a significant role in the development of sparsely vegetated surfaces. Most of the gullies were evidently initiated in the 1930s during the tsetse fly eradication campaign when roads were constructed through the area. Their dimensions did not change substantially following settlement. The success of the Reconstruction and Development Programme will be judged no only on its ability to redress the colonial and apartheid land access legacy, but also on its ability to safeguard future sustainability by preventing further soil degradation. Past landuse changes in KwaZulu Natal have repeatedly accelerated soil erosion. The findings of this study suggest that while landuse changes associated with restitution and redistribution will inevitably increase soil erosion in the short term, the long term outlook is not as bleak.