Short video made from various
Koevoet (South West African
Police Counter Insurgency
Unit) photos and video
clips.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 kille
more

Short video made from various
Koevoet (South West African
Police Counter Insurgency
Unit) photos and video
clips.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).
South-West Africa (now
Namibia) was a South African
protectorate since the end of
World War II, but since the
1960s there was a growing
struggle for independence from
former colonial powers across
the entire African continent.
In the Southern African region
this usually took the form of
armed guerrillas (or
insurgents as they are called
today) support with weapons
and training from communist
states such as the Soviet
Union and China, both seeking
to expand their influence in
strategically important and
mineral rich region.The
apartheid government had
watched with great concern as
these low intensity wars
ousted former colonial powers
in neighbouring states
replacing them with communist
backed regimes, first it was
Mozambique and Angola in 1975
followed by Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe) in 1980. Fearing a
similar fate for South-West
Africa (Namibia) and
eventually South Africa, the
South African government did
not relinquish control over
South-West Africa (Namibia) in
contravention of a UN Security
Council resolution 435 of
1978.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 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. It was the 1978
brainchild of then Colonel
Hans Dreyer (later a
Major-General in the SADF) 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 alleged SWAPO
insurgents which resulted in a
1:25 or one to 25 kill ratio.

Category Travel & Places

Tags koevoet, south, west, african, police, sadf, namibia, angola, border, bushwar