Drought grips northern KZN

2003-06-30 08:36

Craig Bishop

Durban - The worst drought in human memory across much of the north coast and northern inland regions is threatening business, agriculture and tourism.

At last weekend's annual Hluhluwe-iMfolozi (HiM) game auction, the Vleissentrale auctioneer bemoaned the fact that severe drought in game farming areas resulted in many of the lots going for a song. Prices were roughly 40% down.

To the north and south of the HiM Reserve, and stretching inland as far as Vryheid and Pongola, businesses and communities face one of the driest years in human memory.

One 90-year-old land owner, Elsie Erlandson, who farmed the area in the 1930s, said the last time she has seen such low water levels was back in 1930 when plagues of army worms and locusts ravaged agriculture.

The statistics are shocking and in a worst case scenario could continue for several more years, according to KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife conservator Ricky Taylor.

Lake St Lucia is currently a metre below sea level and the shoreline has receeded by about 200m in places. The estuary mouth has been closed since last July.

Half the lake volume has evaporated and salinity levels have rocketed. Certain species, like prawns, have been annihilated. The recreational fishing and boating industries along Lake St Lucia are all but defunct.

Taylor said the solution would be to breach the mouth in a few months' time. "We are able to choose to open the mouth and have hyper-salinity levels in St Lucia or keep the mouth closed and have very low lake levels.

"If the drought breaks now, opening the mouth will be the best solution but we have no way of knowing how much longer it will last," he explained.

At a time when many Ezemvelo reserves are having to prove their profitability or face privatisation, Ezemvelo reserve staff are equally uncertain how monthly targets will be met.

Charters Creek and Fanies Island, and the privately-owned Makakatana Lodge, reported near empty bed nights, with at least one of those reserves posting between two and three percent occupancy.

One boat owner, Guy van Vuuren, has not earned a cent since December and has not had a launch since November.

The Nkundusi, Nibela and kwaMduku fishermen and netters don't bother getting out of bed in the morning, saying there are no fish and no access to deep water.

Commercial cane farming yields are way down and the emerging Charters Creek cane farmers have posted a depressing 150 000 ton estimate this year, down from the bumper 350 000 tons two years ago. Many land owners and home owners have one or two more weeks' water left in dams and boreholes.

"There is not much one can do against nature. What is needed is a cyclone like Demoina in 1984, which raised lake levels by three metres," said Van Vuuren.

Many locals point to commercial cane operations and afforestation as part of the problem. Low rainfall years are exacerbated by the huge drain from the three main local rivers that feed Lake St Lucia, the Mkhuze, Nyalazi and Hluhluwe, all of which resemble sand streams at the moment.

- The Witness