diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/BUILD b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/BUILD
index 788687dcd79..afc2770201c 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/BUILD
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/BUILD
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ go_library(
         "//vendor/github.com/imdario/mergo:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/spf13/pflag:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/golang.org/x/crypto/ssh/terminal:go_default_library",
-        "//vendor/k8s.io/api/core/v1:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors:go_default_library",
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/client_config.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/client_config.go
index 93e99a942c3..66331a7ad3b 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/client_config.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/client_config.go
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	"github.com/imdario/mergo"
 
-	"k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	restclient "k8s.io/client-go/rest"
 	clientauth "k8s.io/client-go/tools/auth"
 	clientcmdapi "k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/api"
@@ -338,7 +337,7 @@ func (config *DirectClientConfig) Namespace() (string, bool, error) {
 	}
 
 	if len(configContext.Namespace) == 0 {
-		return v1.NamespaceDefault, false, nil
+		return "default", false, nil
 	}
 
 	return configContext.Namespace, false, nil
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/merged_client_builder.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/merged_client_builder.go
index 3f02111bd56..05038133b6b 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/merged_client_builder.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/merged_client_builder.go
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 
-	"k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	restclient "k8s.io/client-go/rest"
 	clientcmdapi "k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/api"
 )
@@ -145,7 +144,7 @@ func (config *DeferredLoadingClientConfig) Namespace() (string, bool, error) {
 
 	if len(ns) > 0 {
 		// if we got a non-default namespace from the kubeconfig, use it
-		if ns != v1.NamespaceDefault {
+		if ns != "default" {
 			return ns, false, nil
 		}