In recent times, there has been a growing recognition of the field-based problems associated with sandy soils in agroecosystems. Amongst these, is soil compaction which causes soil degradation and adversely affects crop growth. However, we know relatively little about how conservation agricultural (CA) practices influence the compactibility of sandy soils in maize-based cropping systems. Our study was formulated to assess the presence and degree of soil compaction on a sandy textured topsoil under CA practices in a semi-arid region of South Africa. Treatments were laid out in a randomised complete block design with tillage as the main factor and cropping systems as the subplot factor. Tillage systems were conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT) and cropping systems included (i) maize-maize-maize (MMM), (ii) wheat-fallow-maize (WFM), (iii) soybean-cover crop-soybean (SCCS) and (iv) maize-maize-cover crop (MMCC) rotation. From the treatment combinations, we determined soil physical properties; bulk density (BD), packing density (PD), total porosity (TP), relative gas diffusion coefficient (RGDC), void ratio (VR) and soil compactness degree (SCD). In comparison to CT, we found that NT significantly increased BD, PD and SCD by 3% to 918%, suggesting that minimal soil disturbance under NT results in the consolidation and densification of the sandy textured soil (90% sand content). Such alterations of the physical quality of the soil led to the reduction in TP (6%), RGDC (14%), and VR (10%) under NT relative to CT plots. This deterioration of the physical quality of the soil could negatively influence soil water retention and aeration, subsequently altering root growth, decreasing uptake of nutrients and water from the soil, especially under semi-arid regions.