Bibliography: Land Degradation in South Africa project

Ciskei settlement. Journal of Contemporary African Studies , 1995.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : LAND TENURE; CISKEI; ECONOMIC ASPECTS; SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS;

SUBSIDIES

Notes : The purpose of the study was to investigate the type of land tenure,

causes of economic differentiation, relationship between economic

differentiation and on-going patterns of voluntary social interaction. The

author heavily depended on literature review and his own personal experience to

write the article. He also did some fieldwork. He took Rabula location in

Keiskammahoek district as a case study location. In the localities one-third of

the households are without arable land and in 1949 agricultural crop production

in kind constituted some 12,24%, and overall household income had decreased to

4%. Although land ownership is still an important source of status and of

security in Rabula, land ownership does not seem to play a prominent and overall

role in the community. It is not a primary factor that influences social and

economic differentiation. As a matter of fact, in Rabula, immigrants' wages and

increasingly pensions, are the major determining factor distinguishing rural

households from one another in terms of their wealth levels. The author

expresses his view that a possible rationalisation of the civil services,

coupled with a revision of the subsidization of industrial decentralisation, may

threaten the jobs and incomes of many Rabulians with potentially far-reaching

social consequences for the settlement. This article is obtainable from the

main library at the University of Fort Hare. See ID ref. no. 2339.

Ref ID : 2350

720. De Wet, C. and Leibbrandt, M. Some thoughts on Leon Louw's proposals for

tribal land reform in Ciskei. Ciskei Agricultural Journal , 1987.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : LAND REFORM; CISKEI; LAND TENURE; ECONOMIC ASPECTS; SUBSIDIES;

PRODUCTION POTENTIAL; AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

Notes : The purpose of this article is to address the following two issues that

were raised by Louw & Louw and Kendall (1986) regarding tribal land reform.

These issues relate to (a) the nature of traditional African land tenure, and

(b) the likely consequences of freehold tenure being implemented on a large

scale in an area such as the Ciskei. Secondary information was used for the

study. The study found that, until Ciskei (which has limited personnel and a

limited budget) develops a sufficiently strong economy to be able to generate

employment and to support farmers in the form of subsidised services and loans,

freehold agriculture will not realise its full potential. It is further argued

that, until farmer support does improve sufficiently, land tenure reform by

itself will not make much difference to agricultural output. This article can

be found at the University of Fort Hare library. See ref. I.D. no: 2339.

Ref ID : 2499

721. De Wet, C., Lujabe, P., and Metele, N. Resettlement into the Whittlesea

district in the former Ciskei. South African Journal of Ethnology , 1996.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : CISKEI; WESTERN CAPE; EASTERN CAPE; SETTLEMENT IMPACTS; ECONOMIC

ASPECTS; SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS

Notes : The purpose of the study was to investigate the movement of black South

Africans from towns in the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape, and from farms in

the Eastern Cape, to the district of Whittlesea. The authors depended heavily

on secondary sources of information. The findings revealed that the

resettlements, although they may not have attained economic development, have

achieved community formation. They have forged new relationships drawn from

their resettlement experience, are participating in voluntary associations and

have developed working relationships with new leadership structures to which

they largely attribute a substantial measure of legitimacy. The research

vigorously examined the socio-economic consequences of resettlement from the

1960s onwards of people moved from farms and towns in the western and eastern

Cape to the district of Whittlesea in the former Ciskei. This article is

available at the main library, in the University of Fort Hare. See ID ref. no.

2339.

Ref ID : 2476

722. De Wet, C. and Van Averbeke, W. Regional overview of land related issues in

the Eastern Cape Province. BRC,ARDRI, and ISER Research Reports.Anonymous ,

1995.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : EASTERN CAPE; LAND REFORM; CISKEI; POVERTY; IRRIGATION; TRANSKEI;

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION; RURAL DEVELOPMENT; SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS; ECONOMIC

ASPECTS; LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

Notes : The purpose of the study was to give a regional overview of issues

relevant to a post land reform programme in the Eastern Cape. Research

information was gathered through group interviews and primary data sources.

What becomes immediately apparent from these studies, is that the Ciskei is

largely impoverished. Recent estimates claim that 84% of rural blacks in former

homeland areas are living below the poverty line. A very limited amount of

total income is generated by the people themselves as can be seen from the

contribution from agricultural activities such as sale of crops (3,93%) and

livestock (4,87%) and from self-employment (5,25%). The level of poverty

becomes apparent when looking at the average de jure size of households (8,5)

that depend on these income levels (De Wet, 1992:35). In the rural areas, the

main contributors to formal employment were agriculture (61,2%) and social

services (19%). Agricultural activities in the Eastern Cape are characterised

by two systems of agriculture, namely small-scale subsistence agriculture in the

former homelands areas, (with the exception of large agricultural estates and

irrigation schemes run by parastatals) and large commercial farming in the

former white controlled parts of the province. The general picture that has

emerged about subsistence agriculture is that its contribution to subsistence

has declined over the decades, and that it makes a relatively small contribution

overall. Some researchers have shown that the contribution of agriculture to the

subsistence of rural blacks had declined from 51% in the 1950s to only 20% in

1984 (Ibid: 26). Case studies in selected areas in Transkei and Ciskei on the

other hand show this to be even lower, with some studies estimating that

agriculture contributed only 6% to disposable income with the balance coming

from pensions, wage income and other remittances. Thus viewed in the light of

the small-scale contribution of agriculture to household income, farming and

particularly market orientated agricultural production, is not seen by

communities as a viable alternative to off-farm income generating activities.

This report is obtainable from RRDI: UNITRA, Umtata. See ID ref. no. 2339.

Ref ID : 2474

723. De Wet, C. and Van Averbeke, W. Border Ciskei District Study on Land

Reform. ARDRI research report.Anonymous , 1995.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : CISKEI; LAND REFORM; RURAL DEVELOPMENT; IRRIGATION; POPULATION; AID

Notes : The purpose of the study was to investigate land related issues, the

result of which can be utilised in the debate for land reform in South Africa.

Secondary sources of information were extensively used for this study. The

study found that rural development programmes would need to take more than land

reform into account. It would be a mistake and wastage to plan separately for

white farms, black farms and settlements. It is essential that these areas and

communities be taken into account and planned for in a co-ordinated, integrated

manner, which allows for optimum development and servicing of needs in the

Stutterheim district. In the Keiskammahoek district, besides land reform, there

are other issues that need immediate attention. These include farmer

participation in the rural development planning process, decision-making rights,

farmer support services, and information provision systems. The development of

irrigation schemes should involve the resident population and avoid importing

people from outside the area. This report is available from ARDRI, University of

Fort Hare. See ID ref. no. 2339.

Ref ID : 1221

724. De Wet, C.J. Land tenure and rural development: some issues relating to the

Ciskei/ Transkei region. Development Southern Africa 4(3):422-431, 1987.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : LAND TENURE; RURAL DEVELOPMENT; TRANSKEI

Ref ID : 841

725. De Wet, C.J. The socio-ecological impact of development schemes in the

'homelands' of South Africa. South African Journal of Science 86:440-447, 1990.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : BETTERMENT PLANNING; SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS; COMMUNAL AREA; LAND USE;

EROSION

Notes : Development schemes in rural areas have a significant ecological impact

as they often involve a reorganisation of land-use and resource-utilisation

patterns. This reorganisation is usually intended to have a positive ecological

effect by combating erosion, promoting rational land-use patterns and using the

potential of the area to best effect, thereby also providing economic benefits

to people living there. Often development schemes have the opposite effect - a

negative ecological and economic impact as well as causing considerable social

disruption, which in its turn has further negative ecological consequences.

This paper looks at several kinds of development projects, seeking to understand

why they have limited rather than increased ecological, economic and social

options, and to what extent such negative effects can be avoided in future

development projects in rural areas.

Ref ID : 2387

726. De Wet, C.J., Leibbrandt, M., and Palmer, R.C.G. The effects of externally

induced socio-economic and political changes in the rural areas: The Keiskamma

district 1948-1986. A pilot study. This report is Working paper no. 47, ISER,

Rhodes University, Grahamstown.Anonymous Rhodes University, Grahamstown:ISER.

47, ISER, 1989.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : MAPS; LAND TENURE; POPULATION; IRRIGATION; CISKEI; SOCIOECONOMIC

ASPECTS; ECONOMIC ASPECTS; RURAL DEVELOPMENT; LAND REFORM

Notes : The study was undertaken in order to compile a comprehensive plan for a

long-term study of the Keiskammahoek district as a whole. The research methods

included the anthropological technique of participant observation, the

administering of questionnaires, recording of genealogies and the life

histories, the consultation of government files, archival material and aerial

maps and interviews with key official personalities. The study was done at

Rabula village and Keiskammahoek town in the Keiskammhoek district. Rabula has

had a freehold land tenure system since 1886, with the government of the day

making surveyed plots available for purchase. Most of the people buying plots

were blacks as well as a few whites that lived scattered among the predominantly

black population. Cash incomes appear to have risen significantly since 1949.

People now purchase a much wider range of goods than before. Wages and salaries

now provide a greater percentage and remittances from migrant lbourers a lower

percentage of the household cash income than before. Important sources of

employment in Keiskammahoek are the Irrigation Scheme and the hospital. This

report is obtainable from the Cory Library, Rhodes University. See ref. I.D.

no: 2339.

Ref ID : 1555

727. De Wet, C.J. and McAllister, P.A. Rural communities in transition: A study

of the socio-economic and agricultural implications of agricultural betterment

and development.Anonymous Anonymous Grahamstown:Department of Anthropology

Rhodes University. :1-113, 1983.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : CISKEI; TRANSKEI; LAND TENURE; POLICY; AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT;

BETTERMENT PLANNING; POPULATION; POLITICAL ASPECTS; AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION;

LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT; ECONOMIC ASPECTS; SOCIOECONOMIC

ASPECTS; GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

Notes : This report compares two areas - one in the Ciskei, which has already

undergone betterment in the 1960s and one in the Transkei, which is in the

initial stages of implementing betterment. In the case of the Ciskei area, the

report is divided into 3 sections. (1) The area before the introduction of

betterment - here a brief outline is given of the demographic situation, of

kinship and residential groupings, political organisation, agricultural

practices and productivity, as well as ceremonial activities and voluntary

associations. (2) The introduction of betterment - here the implementation of

betterment is discussed looking at both the planning and consultative process,

as well as the physical implementation of the scheme, which involved the people

moving to the new residential areas. Attention is paid to the people's

perceptions of what was happening to them, and an attmept is made to account for

the differences in perception between the planners and the 'recipients' of

betterment. (3) The impact and consequences of betterment - here attention is

given to the demographic situation, to new residential patterns and their impact

upon village-politics, patterns of agricultural co-operation, social and

ceremonial organisation and voluntary association. The current agricultural

situation is examined, comparing current yields and stock-holdings with the pre-

betterment situation. An overall evaluation of the impact of betterment on the

area is attempted, in economic and ecological terms, as well as in terms of

people's resultant attitudes twoards betterment, and towards development in

general. In the case of the Transkei area, broadly the same pattern is

followed: (1) The current (i.e. pre-betterment) situation is discussed, the

demographic residential situation, and political organisation, and focusing on

the importance of the organisational principles of kinship and neighbourhood in

social life, as well as in agricultural and general economic activity.

Attention is paid to the question of land tenure, and to the different roles of

fields and gardens in agriculture. (2) The implementation of betterment inasfar

as it has currently been implemented is discussed. In this case only a few

homesteads have as yet moved; and the discussion focuses on the process of

planning and consultation, and on people's perceptions of what betterment is and

what it will do to their lives. (3) The likely effects of betterment are then

discussed in terms of people's access to resources, economic and agricultural

well-being, the nature of relationships between people, and the relationship

between betterment and the ecology of the area. In conclusion a brief

comparison is made between the two study areas, showing the essential similarity

in terms of social structure in the Ciskei area as it was before betterment, and

the Transkei area as it currently is. In terms of these similarities it seems

that the effects of betterment in the Transkei area are likely to be largely

similar to those in the Ciskei area. Betterment itself is then contextualised

in terms of its wider setting in terms of SA Governmental policy towards the

black homeland areas. Various positive and negative evaluations of betterment

are then considered in the light of the findings of this report. Finally,

various suggestions are made as to how to set about improvement of agricultural

development in black homeland areas.

Ref ID : 1554

728. De Wet, C.J. and McAllister, P.A. Betterment planning and its consequences

in rural Ciskei and Transkei. Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Wetenskap 81:555-558,

1985.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : BETTERMENT PLANNING; CISKEI; TRANSKEI; LAND USE; POPULATION;

RESTORATION; FARMING SYSTEMS; AID; SUBSIDIES; POLITICAL ASPECTS; POLICY

Notes : Betterment refers to attempts by the SA government to transform

agriculture and land use in the black 'homelands', which started in the 1930s

and reached its zenith after the Tomlinson Commission reported in 1955. It

involved the division of rural 'locations' into residential, arable and grazing

lands, with the stated intention of rehabilitating the environment and creating

economically viable, agriculturally-based communities. Many problems were

encountered in the course of the implementation of betterment, which cannot be

said to have succeeded in its aims. These problems included: the fact that the

necessary funding was not made available by central government, resulting in a

partial and piecemeal implementation of original plans; shortages of skilled

personnel; inadequate communication between the authorities and the affected

population; and widespread opposition to betterment, which in some areas took

the form of active resistance.

Ref ID : 1892

729. De Wet, H. The price that agriculture has to pay for the utilisation of

productive farm land for the creation of infrastructure and township

development. Veld Trust Conference on the conservation status of agricultural

resources in the RSA. Du Preez, J.F.Anonymous Pretoria:Unisa. , 1990.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : CONSERVATION

Ref ID : 885

730. Deacon, H.J. and Deacon, J. Late Pleistocene and Holocene climates and

human responses. South African Journal of Science 82:74-75, 1986.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : PALAEOENVIRONMENTS; POPULATION; CLIMATE

Notes : SA has shown significant climate change in the last 130 000 years,

although it was not glaciated during this period. The Last Interglacial

corresponded to climates as warm as or warmer than the present, and the Last

Glacial to climates cooler and drier overall than at present. The cyclicity of

glacials and interglacials has been shown to be a response to orbital

perturbations of the earth moving around the sun as predicted by Milankovitch,

and the patterning is made more complex by briefer warmer and cooler

oscillations occurring within the glacial and interglacial, respectively. Our

current understanding of late Pleistocene and Holocene climates has come largely

from analysis of the oxygen isotope record preserved in deep-sea cores. This

record measures the amount of glacial melt-waters contributed to the oceans

during periods of glacial regression and is a proxy indicator of sea-surface

temperatures. Although this record may provide an indication of trends in

climatic change, it remains necessary to translate these into the effects of

terrestrial ecosystems as a whole and on individual organisms. Our primary

interest has been in gaining an appreciation of the effects of climatic forcing

on environments in the southern Cape Province and on the dynamics of prehistoric

human populations.

Ref ID : 894

731. Deacon, H.J., Partridge, T.C., Avery, D.M., Illenberger, W.K., Talma, A.S.,

and Verhagen, B.T. Palaeoenvironments and recent environmental change in

southern Africa. In: Long-term data series relating to southern Africa's

renewable natural resources, edited by Macdonald, I.A.W. and Crawford, R.J.M.

1988,p. 365-367.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : PALAEOENVIRONMENTS; VEGETATION CHANGE; ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

Notes : The purpose of this chapter has been to provide a long-term view against

which to evaluate recent environmental change. On the longer time scales for

example, the Late Pleistocene and Holocene cyclic variation in environmental

parameters, measured on a scale of thousands of years, have a greater amplitude

than the scale of variations observed in modern data series.

Ref ID : 889

732. Deacon, J. Human settlement in South Africa and archaeological evidence for

alien plants and animals. In: The ecology and management of biological invasions

in southern Africa. Proceedings of the National Synthesis Symposium on the

ecology of biological invasions, edited by Macdonald, I.A.W., Kruger, F.J., and

Ferrar, A.A.Cape Town:Oxford University Press, 1986,p. 3-19.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : ARCHAEOLOGY; ALIEN PLANTS; ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY; SOUTHERN AFRICA;

POPULATION

Notes : The aim of the book from which this chapter is taken, is to examine the

ecology of invasive plants, animals and micro-organisms, emphasising those that

have disrupted natural ecosystem processes in southern Africa. This chapter

summarizes when and how people, who were responsible for introducing these alien

plants and animals, colonised South Africa over the past 1,5 myr (million years)

or more. The survey ends in 1911 AD a year after Union when the present-day

boundaries were established. During this time people spread throughout the

subcontinent and exploited the plant and animal food resources in much the same

way as other diversivores. Prior to 2 000 BP (before present), animal

extinctions and changes in plant and animal communities resulted more from

climatic changes than from the impact of human populations, whereas within the

last 2 000 years, people actively introduced alien plants and animals. A

summary of the major stages of human settlement in southern Africa helps to

place present-day distributions in perspective.

Ref ID : 925

733. Deacon, J., Lancaster, N., and Scott, L. Evidence for late quaternary

climatic change in southern Africa. In: Late cainozoic palaeoclimates of the

southern hemisphere: proceedings of an international symposium held by the South

African Society for Quaternary Research, Swaziland, 29 August - 2 September

1983, edited by Vogel, J.C., Basson, N., Vogel, U., and Fuls, A.Rotterdam:A.A.

Balkema, 1983,p. 391-404.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : PALAEOENVIRONMENTS; CLIMATE; CLIMATE CHANGE; SOUTHERN AFRICA

Notes : A workshop on "Evidence for Late Quarternary climate change in southern

Africa" was held at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg on

September 3 and 5, 1983, under the auspices of the CSIR Cooperative Scientific

Programmes National Programme for Weather, Climate and Atmosphere Research and

SASQUA. The session was organised by JC Vogal who arranged for the preparation

and circulation of data sheets summarising the nature of the evidence, dating