diff --git a/makefiles/test.mk b/makefiles/test.mk
index cc101d7bfe..956e42e315 100644
--- a/makefiles/test.mk
+++ b/makefiles/test.mk
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ DEFAULT_ITERATION?=1000
 SPU_DELAY?=5
 SC_AUTH_CONFIG?=./crates/fluvio-sc/test-data/auth_config
 EXTRA_ARG?=
+KUBECTL_ARG_NAMESPACE=$(if $(K8_NAMESPACE),-n ${K8_NAMESPACE},)
 
 # Test env
 TEST_ENV_AUTH_POLICY=
@@ -148,15 +149,15 @@ smoke-test-k8-tls: TEST_ARG_TABLE_FORMAT_CONFIG=--table-format-config ./tests/te
 smoke-test-k8-tls: build_k8_image smoke-test
 
 smoke-test-k8-tls-policy-setup:
-	kubectl delete configmap authorization --ignore-not-found
-	kubectl create configmap authorization --from-file=POLICY=${SC_AUTH_CONFIG}/policy.json --from-file=SCOPES=${SC_AUTH_CONFIG}/scopes.json
+	kubectl ${KUBECTL_ARG_NAMESPACE} delete configmap authorization --ignore-not-found
+	kubectl ${KUBECTL_ARG_NAMESPACE} create configmap authorization --from-file=POLICY=${SC_AUTH_CONFIG}/policy.json --from-file=SCOPES=${SC_AUTH_CONFIG}/scopes.json
 smoke-test-k8-tls-policy: TEST_ENV_FLV_SPU_DELAY=FLV_SPU_DELAY=$(SPU_DELAY)
 smoke-test-k8-tls-policy: TEST_ARG_EXTRA=--tls --authorization-config-map authorization $(EXTRA_ARG)
 smoke-test-k8-tls-policy: TEST_ARG_TABLE_FORMAT_CONFIG=--table-format-config ./tests/test-table-format-config.yaml
 smoke-test-k8-tls-policy: build_k8_image smoke-test
 
 test-permission-k8:	SC_HOST=$(shell kubectl get node -o json | jq '.items[].status.addresses[0].address' | tr -d '"' )
-test-permission-k8:	SC_PORT=$(shell kubectl get svc fluvio-sc-public -o json | jq '.spec.ports[0].nodePort' )
+test-permission-k8:	SC_PORT=$(shell kubectl ${KUBECTL_ARG_NAMESPACE} get svc fluvio-sc-public -o json | jq '.spec.ports[0].nodePort' )
 test-permission-k8:	test-permission-user1
 
 # run auth policy without setup, UNCLEAN must not be set