Helao Nafidi has been established in 2004 as an amalgamation of several villages and settlements along the main road between Oshikango and Ohangwena[2] which are both also part of the town.

The border post at Oshikango, one of the oldest between Namibia and Angola, had been near destroyed in the guerrilla war, and the settlement appeared dilapidated until the mid-1990s.

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.

[4] Eliaser Nghipangelwa retained his position as mayor of the Helao Nafidi Town Council in 2015, deputised by Panduleni Hainghumbi.

The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020, obtained 690 votes and gained the remaining two seats.

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.