The increasing influx of immigrants from neighbouring Angola into the Omusati Region has raised concerns among local authorities and farmers. 

While many Angolans are fleeing hunger and economic hardships, some Namibian communities are grappling with issues such as environmental degradation and stock theft.

The Governor of Omusati Region, Erginus Endjala, is raising his concern over the growing number of Angolans crossing the border into Namibia, who, according to him, are coming to seek better opportunities and survival, but their presence has triggered a new set of challenges.

"It has been an influx of a lot of Angolans, immigrants, that are coming to our region. Some of them are coming for medical assistance, and some are economic immigrants. And some of them said they fled hunger from where they came from."

The governor further said that the living conditions for the immigrants are not so good, with hygiene and environmental concerns mounting as they camp out in informal settlements.

"At the moment, the colleagues are just sleeping wherever they find themselves, and hygiene has become a problem. At the same time, as you can see, the environment also becomes another problem because they pollute too much and they carry anything that they find. We need to talk to the Angolan authorities to see how we can better mitigate this effect of immigration. We need to talk to the Angolan authority to see how we can better mitigate this effect of immigration."

For many of the immigrants, the journey to Namibia is one of desperation driven by the need to escape food insecurity and poverty. 

"Hunger has forced us to return to Namibia now and then; we came with empty hands from Angola, checking around how we can secure food from good Samaritans. What we do here is go inside Etunda to see if we can get some cabbages for consumption," one of the immigrants told our news team.

The Namibian government hopes to engage with its Angolan counterparts to find a way forward, addressing both the humanitarian crisis and the growing tensions between immigrants and local communities.

"It is time for both governments to sit around the table and discuss how we can provide food relief and address the issue of livestock theft before tensions escalate further," said Governor Endjala.