Namaland comprised an area of 2,156 km2 (832 sq mi) and was to accommodate the estimated 34,806 southern Namas of the South West African territory.

The term Namaland also covers a much broader region of southern Namibia which is the traditional home of the northern Nama or Namaqua people.

Moreover it was envisaged that by separating each ethnic group and confining people by law to their restricted areas, discrimination by race would automatically disappear.

All harbours, most of the railway network and the tarred road infrastructure, all larger airports, the profitable diamond areas and the national parks were situated in the Police Zone.

[4] Following the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference the system of Bantustans was replaced in 1980 by Representative Authorities which functioned on the basis of ethnicity only and were no longer based on geographically defined areas.