Helao Nafidi is a town in

Ohangwena Region Ohangwena is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Eenhana. Major settlements in the region are the towns Eenhana and Helao Nafidi aa well as the self-governed village of Okongo. , Ohangwena had 150,724 registered voters. Ohang ...

in northern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

at the border to

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. It has been established in 2004 as an amalgamation of several villages and settlements along the main road between

Oshikango Oshikango is a former village in northern Namibia and since 2004 part of the town of Helao Nafidi, although it still maintained its own village council for a number of years. ''Oshikango'' is still the name of the border post with Angola and the ...

and

Ohangwena Ohangwena is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Eenhana. Major settlements in the region are the towns Eenhana and Helao Nafidi aa well as the self-governed village of Okongo. , Ohangwena had 150,724 registered voters. Oha ...

which are both also part of the town. Helao Nafidi has 19,375 inhabitants. The town is separated into three urban areas, Oshikango in the north, bisected by the Namibian–Angolan border, and Omafo and Ohangwena south of it, with settlements and villages in the agricultural area between them. All the villages that have been combined to form the town ( Onhuno, Ohangwena, Omafo,

Engela Engela is an Ovambo people, Ovambo settlement in the Ohangwena Region in northern Namibia. Formerly situated in the Oukwanyama area it is since 2004 part of the town Helao Nafidi, although it still maintained its own village council until the Nami ...

and Oshikango) still maintained their own village councils until the 2015 local authority election.

History

The area that today is the town of Helao Nafidi was heavily affected by the

South African Border War The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Ango ...

1966 to 1989 between

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and its allied forces (mainly

UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...

) and the Angolan government and

South-West Africa People's Organisation The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

(SWAPO). The border post at Oshikango, one of the oldest between Namibia and Angola, had been near destroyed in the

guerrilla war Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics ...

, and the settlement appeared dilapidated until the mid-1990s. After Namibian independence several settlements were proclaimed villages in 1996 in order to increase border trade.

Economy

The border post at Oshikango is the busiest Namibian border post with on average 500 people crossing per day. This has brought business opportunities to the surrounding area. With the help of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

Export Processing Zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re- exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to cu ...

was established there, consisting of 14 warehouses. Omafo, another suburb of Helao Nafidi, hosts an annual trade show. The parallel prevalence of land owned by the villages, the town, and land under traditional jurisdiction has led to uncertainties about ownership that had to be settled in court. The case of Helao Nafidi, where traditional authorities and the town and village councils frequently disagree on what is in their respective jurisdiction, can be seen as an example of the clash between tradition and modernity in Namibian law.

Transport

In mid-2005, the second stage of the new Northern Railway began construction from Oshivelo to Oshikango. By mid-2006, it had reached Ondangwa. A train called '' Omugulugwombashe Star'' traveled weekly on this track until the locomotives broke down after a few rounds of service and were found unsuitable for Namibia’s railway network. The railway extension to Ohangwena and Oshikango is under construction, and a short extension across the border was proposed in 2008 to bypass the congested border post. In October 2022, the town was equipped with Namibia Traffic System offices, which will handle the registration and licensing of vehicles, annual renewal of vehicle licences, renewal of driving licences, and testing and issuing of learners' licences.

Politics

Helao Nafidi is governed by a town council that has seven seats. The 2015 local authority election was won by SWAPO which gained six seats (2,261 votes). The remaining seat was won by the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) with 272 votes. Eliaser Nghipangelwa retained his position as mayor of the Helao Nafidi Town Council in 2015, deputised by Panduleni Hainghumbi. SWAPO also won the 2020 local authority election. It obtained 1,635 votes and gained five seats. The

Independent Patriots for Change The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) is a political party in Namibia. It was founded by Panduleni Itula in August 2020. As an independent presidential candidate in the November 2019 election, Itula won the best result of a losing candidat ...

(IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020, obtained 690 votes and gained the remaining two seats. New entrant Darius Shaalukeni from Swapo was elected as the new mayor of Helao Nafidi, deputised by Penexupifo Matias.

People

Helao Nafidi is inhabited by the Kwanyama community, a subgroup of the

Ovambo Ovambo may refer to: *Ovambo language *Ovambo people * Ovamboland *Ovambo sparrowhawk The Ovambo or Ovampo sparrowhawk, also known as Hilgert's sparrowhawk, (''Accipiter ovampensis'') is a species of sub-Saharan African bird of prey in the famil ...

. Members of this community live on both sides of the border and speak the same language. In the years 2005 and thereafter, foreign investors, mainly Chinese, have bought communal land in large quantities, leaving villagers without the means to raise livestock and farm. Some of the land transfers are thought to be unlawful, facilitated by corrupt town officials. The influx of Chinese businesspeople has been dubbed an "invasion".

References

{{coord, 17, 24, S, 15, 53, E, region:NA_type:city, display=title Populated places in the Ohangwena Region Towns in Namibia 2004 establishments in Namibia Populated places established in 2004