The people of the area are mostly Ju/'hoansi Bushmen, together with a few Herero (Mbanderu). Because of the lung disease that swept through this area of the country and the subsequent eradication of cattle here in the late 1990s, work patterns changed here in the 1990s. Thus many people are employed by branches of the government; working to clear roads and similar public works.

A particularly detailed and interesting article on the community in the Xai Xai area, with a lot of detailed facts from a study there, can be found at www.kalaharipeoples.org/documents/Ju-pap.htm