The history of the Hallom and the Juhos San of Namibis over the past century has been a constant series of challenges frors the state, the evements in which they live, and from their San and non-San neighbors. Both Halon and Ju hoansi experienced removals from their ancestral inde in the 20 and 21 centuries at the hands of the colonial and post-colonial states. More recently, they have had to cope with incursions their traditional areas. of other groups moving into what remamed of

Today, the Hai//om, the largest and most widely distributed of the San of Namibia, are largely landless. Substantial numbers of Hailom are farm workers and their families, some of them working for Ovambo, Herero, Kavango, Germans, and Afrikaaners. Progress has been made in recent years (2007-present) in providing commercial farms for Hai//om settlement by the San Development Office of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with financial assistance from international donors. The Hai//om resettlement farms, which are adjacent to Etosha National Park, are in the process of being occupied, with several hundred people having moved there from the park. Other groups, including Herero and Europeans, own some of the neighboring farms, and they have provided assistance to the Hai//om on the resettlement farms including giving technical advice and livestock. The interactions between the Hai//om and their neighbors and the Namibian government could potentially change as a result of a collective action lawsuit filed in October, 2015 seeking rights to the benefits from Etosha National Park.

In the case of the Ju/'hoansi San of Nyae Nyae, the second largest group of San in Namibia, interactions with neighboring groups, such as the Herero, are more recent, occurring especially in the 20th and 21 centuries, although they had dealt with Herero since the 19th century, largely assisting them as herders and domestic workers. The Nyae Nyae Ju/'hoansi recently experienced what they considered an invasion of their land by 32 Herero with 1,300 head of cattle, who cut the "Redline" veterinary cordon fence in 2009 and entered the Nyae Nyae area As a result, relationships between the two groups have not been as cordial as they were in the past. Ju/'hoansi-Herero relationships became even more complicated in July, 2015 when legal charges were laid against four illegal Herero grazers in the Nyae Nyae Community Forest.

This article explores the complex relationships between the Hai//om and Ju/'hoansi and their neighbors, with particular reference to the Herero. It is argued that resolution of the many outstanding issues on land, water, and natural resources will require negotiations and decisions by state, non-government organizations, community-based organizations, and Traditional Authorities about how best to handle competing demands.