The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism aims to complete the reconstruction of the Etosha National Park boundary fence by 2030.

The Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, Indileni Daniel, said this on Thursday during the parliament session while answering questions posed by McHenry Venaani.

"Our goal is to complete the reconstruction of the park boundary fence by 2030, looking at the pace we are going now. However, with strong support for the neighboring community and farmers coupled with increased funding, whether through sustainable use of wildlife resources channeled into the game products trust fund or through higher budget allocation to the ministry, this target could be achieved even sooner."

Daniel stated that only 185 kilometers of the fence, which has a perimeter boundary of 824 kilometers, has been reconstructed, and 639 kilometers still remain.

She also stated that the ministry will employ 100 members from the community, including the youths, to speed up the process.

The minister highlighted that she visited the Etosha National Park earlier in April to observe the state of affairs and to assess the progress made.

Daniel emphasised that the ministry has been working closely with the communities and farmers around Etosha National Park to implement preventative and protective mitigation measures in order to manage human-wildlife conflicts.

The leader of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), McHenry Venaani, stressed that the ministry should come up with new approaches to complete the Etosha Fence.

"I think you are dealing with a very complex problem in a very uncomplex way. You cannot be telling communities that you are subjecting them to 5 years to complete the fence. 2030 is when you want to complete the fence; in the meantime, their animals can be mauled by lions and wild animals because they are close to the fence."