A bief history of Koevoet (South West African Counter Insurgency Unit)

[Ar.]

What happened to these fine young man after they were dumped? Are they helping out in Iraq, Afganistan or else where in Africa, or else-where in the world, because they are certainly not service men in the NDF (Namibian Defence Force)? They were not dumped only, the SWAPO corrupt regime, confiscate their meagre pension fund of N$36 million and gave N$12 million to SWAPO PLAN. Let 's hope they do not believe in an eye for an eye. Maybe they have simply forgotten about this money. Maybe, maybe, maybe they are just stupid and say, it's fine. Take a look at how these boys performed.

YouTube - South African Armed Forces (SADF,KOEVOET,RECCE,SAP)
YouTube - Koevoet video (SWA Police)
YouTube - Land of Warriors - South Africa now they need to ask in this way. What a shame.
YouTube - Recces Commands

I hope you have enjoy the show.

[Pietro]

Ar.

A lion (SWAPO) and a goat (your guys) don't sit together!! Remember, the victor decides; not the vanquished!!!

[Comrade007]

Good soldiers they were, no doubt - but also brutal in their methods. There were equally good soldiers in PLAN. I suppose that is what is expected of soldiers. I don't think, though, that this is something worth praising as such. Wars inevitably solve little and only increase and compound suffering, especially by innocent civiliands. Let's not fool ourselves: The wars perpetrated by the National Party racist regime in South Africa were regarded as dirty and unpopular wars by the rank and file of the South African and South-West African security forces - as many now attest and admit to. Of course there were also overzealous and blind foot-soliders who believed in the rationale for the wards, but many realised the folly of it all then, and now. In the end, these wars achived aboslutely nothing. Let us also not fool ourselves: There are too many challenges and problems that demand all our attention. Let us not waste time and energy on bygones but look toward the future with different eyes.

[pangkas]

Only the dead see the end of war, don't you think so to, Ar?

By the way, do you still sleep with the light on? YouTube - SF Africa Part 1

we'll never run out of work.

YouTube - Angola Cuito Road remeber this?

Remeber the Ops .... take a good look at it YouTube - Video of SADF in Angola


YouTube - The South African Border War

[Oneword]

pangkas

My tradition teaches me to honour the dead and not to mock them.

Those that died on both sides during this most stressful time in our history all had mothers and fathers - just like you.

Those mothers and fathers mourned their dead as much as yours would were you to have been in that unfortunate position ..............................................

[Oneword]

Dear Shebeeners.

I am not trying to be provocative or add further fuel to the fire, but as a number of our members may not know exactly what KOEVOET was, I thought a brief history of the organisation may be useful to either refresh your memories or get to know this special branch of the South African forces in Namibia prior to independence.

They were officially disbanded before the 1989 Independence Elections.


Koevoet's operations were covert, widespread and lethal. Their methods included beatings; destruction of property; torture - by hooding, electric shock, submersion in water, mock burials, mock executions, roasting over a fire, and, sleep, food and water deprivation; rape and sexual assault; coercion and intimidation; solitary confinement; and the use of victim's corpses to intimidate villagers. Monetary rewards were given to members for killings, captures and discoveries of arms on a graduated scale. Killing was rewarded most highly.

In his 1997 application for amnesty for atrocities perpetrated as a member of Koevoet, former Warrant Officer John Deegan testified to the TRC:

"We were basically automatons. We would just kill. That's how we got our kicks. We were adrenaline junkies".

Koevoet (Afrikaans for crowbar) was a police counter insurgency unit in South-West Africa (now Namibia) during the 1970s and 1980s. They were the most effective unit (in terms of personnel lost versus enemies killed) deployed against SWAPO fighters (seeking Namibian independence from Apartheid South Africa).

Koevoet was a 3000-man force consisting of Ovambo tribesmen and about 300 white officers and white SADF non-commissioned officers (NCOs). It was organized into 40-man platoons equipped with mine resistant Hippo and later Casspir wheeled armored personnel carriers (including one informally armed with a 20mm cannon) and a supply truck. They rotated one week in the bush for one week at camp.

There were three units based in Kaokaland, Kavango, and Ovambo with each unit controlling several platoons.

It was the 1978 brainchild of then Colonel Hans Dreyer (later a Major-General in the SAP) to develop and exploit intelligence and was based on the Portuguese Flechas and the Rhodesian Selous Scouts. Koevoet was based in Oshakati and suffered 153 killed in action and several hundred more wounded. They killed more than 3,681 SWAPO insurgents which resulted in a 1:25 or one to 25 kill ratio.

Koevoet learnt many of its techniques, especially training and vehicle patrolling, in former Rhodesia (Now Zimbabwe). This came about because Col Hans Dreyer kept a team of "training observers " right up to 1980, based at the Chikarubi Barracks of the BSAP/ZRP Support Unit. The Support Unit were known as the "Blackboots ", due to their distinctive black footware (Other police units all wore brown boots and shoes). Koevoet therefore became known by association as the "Green boots". Training and discipline at the BSAP Support Unit was harsh. Observers were frequently shocked at how recruits—black and white—were treated by the BSAP Support Unit training team. The pass rate was about 30–50 percent, but incorporated a lot of junior leader incentive training. First phase in training patrol officers usually lasted about 11 weeks, longer than the Rhodesian Light Infantry, which was only 6 weeks long. On leaving Zimbabwe in 1980, Koevoet offered positions to any Support Unit details who wished to change over to them, such was the high esteem they had for the "Blackboots".

Wikipedia and other sources freely available on the Internet