The Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) says commercial farmers are obliged to lock their gates due to escalating crimes. However, it says, this does not mean that they are preventing the civil registration officials to enter and issue national documents to farmworkers. The Home Affairs Ministry partly blamed the commercial farmers for reportedly denying access to their officials into farms for civil registration exercises, after it was criticised by lawmakers for not addressing statelessness. But in a statement to the NBC News, the union's executive manager Roelie Venter said that the farmer's body encourages the issuing of national documents when informed about the visits in certain regions. Venter invited the Ministry of Home Affairs to contact the union for further information when undertaking the visits, so the commercial farmers can make provisions.