Competition in Okongo remains intense as numerous individuals strive to endure amidst unemployment.

This comes as Angolan citizens continue crossing into the village to do business, prompting calls for the village council to review and strengthen local trading regulations.

At the same time, the council says it is pushing for stronger agro-processing initiatives aimed at creating more opportunities for residents.

Okongo, a village in the Ohangwena Region in northern Namibia, recorded a population of 3564 residents in its urban centre during the 2023 Census, while the wider Okongo Constituency has over 31,000 inhabitants.

"As you can see, residents roam around or sit alongside the road trying to make a living. While business activities continue, challenges still remain," observed NBC reporter Martha Mwafangeyo.

An Okongo resident had this to say. 

"We have a problem with Angolans that trade in front of us, and they do not want to set their prices at the same average as ours."

"We need factories here that will be able to create jobs for us."

"There are so many Angolan citizens here who also come in to trade. "When we, the Namibians, set our prices higher because we imported the products, they set theirs lower because if they go back to their country, they score a lot, as our currency is stronger than theirs."

The Okongo Village Council's Chief Executive Officer, Jackson Muma, responded, "Recently we engaged the traders, came up with an open market trading committee, and went to other towns to see how others are doing and how they got it right to get traders off the street. So with this benchmark, we came together again, and we agreed in principle to say there are few things the village council should do at the new open market so that traders move in."

He says the council wants agro-processed products produced and packaged in Okongo for both local and national distribution.