The Sperrgebiet is located along the coast of Namibia, bordered in the east by the Great Escarpment of the Southern African Plateau. The Cenozoic evolution of the coastal plain as a consequence of scarp retreat (backwearing) surrounding this plateau was hitherto poorly constrained because of the scarcity of well-dated marker horizons. However, Cenozoic terrigenous deposits and volcanics present in the Sperrgebiet constrain the timing of evolutionary events in the region during the Cenozoic. We combine an analysis of the geomorphic patterns, depositional environments and microtectonics to constrain this evolution and its driving processes. The outcome is that during the beginning of the Palaeocene a smooth scarp existed between an elevated plateau in the east and the coastal domain. The topography was affected by intense weathering that generated thick lateritic profiles that were etched after a change in climatic conditions followed by two deformational stages. The first stage corresponds to a low-scale bulging during the Oligocene and the second to a phase of brittle deformation with an initial WNW-ESE extension with rotated NE-SW extension. This small-scale brittle deformation is consistent with the greater deformation that affected the Southern African Plateau such as the Windhoek Graben and the graben of the Fish River. We propose that this deformation corresponds to changes in the relative contribution of horizontal and vertical stresses, which were induced by variations in the rates of ridge push. Keywords: South African Plateau, scarp retreat, microtectonics, strike-slip, planation surfaces.