Former South West African/Namibian police counterinsurgency organisation
Koevoet
Operation K[1] SWAPOL-COIN / SWAPOL-TIN[2]
Koevoet Memorial at the Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria
Agency overview
Formed
June 1979[2]
Preceding agency
South African Police (various)
Dissolved
30 October 1989[3]
Superseding agency
Special Field Force
Type
Paramilitary
Jurisdiction
South West Africa
Headquarters
Oshakati, Oshana Region[2]
Employees
3,000 (c. 1988)[4]
Ministers responsible
Louis Pienaar, Administrator-General
Louis le Grange, Minister of Law and Order
Agency executive
Hans Dreyer, Major General (1979–1990)
Parent agency
South West African Police (SWAPOL)
Koevoet ([ˈkufut], Afrikaans for crowbar, also known as Operation K or SWAPOL-COIN) was the counterinsurgency branch of the South West African Police (SWAPOL). Its formations included white South African police officers, usually seconded from the South African Security Branch or Special Task Force, and black volunteers from Ovamboland. Koevoet was patterned after the Selous Scouts, a multiracial Rhodesian military unit which specialised in counter-insurgency operations. Its title was an allusion to the metaphor of "prying" insurgents from the civilian population.[5]
Koevoet was active during the South African Border War between 1979 and 1989, during which it carried out hundreds of search and destroy operations against the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN).[6] Koevoet's methods were controversial, and the unit was accused of committing numerous atrocities against civilians.[7] Over the course of the war, it killed or captured 3,225 insurgents and participated in 1,615 individual engagements.[8] Koevoet was disbanded in 1989 as part of the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 435, which effectively ended the South African Border War and ushered in South West African independence as Namibia.[7]
^Stiff, Peter (2004). The Covert War: Koevoet Operations in Namibia, 1979-1989. Alberton: Galago Publishing Pty Ltd. pp. 53, 121. ISBN 978-1919854038.
^ abcPitta, Robert; Fannell, Jeff (1993). South African Special Forces. London: Osprey Publishing. pp. 32–49. ISBN 978-1855322943.
^Wren, Christopher S. (31 October 1989). "South Africa Disbands Special Police in Namibia". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
^Gleijeses, Piero (2013). Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991. United States: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 498–499. ISBN 978-1469609683.
^Hooper, Jim (2013) [1988]. Koevoet! Experiencing South Africa's Deadly Bush War. Solihull: Helion and Company. pp. 86–93, 113–119, 323. ISBN 978-1868121670.
^Simon Chesterman (2007). Civilians in War (2001 ed.). International Peace Academy. pp. 27–29. ISBN 978-1-77007-328-9.
^ abGreen, Sparks. Namibia: The Nation After Independence. pp. 1–134.
^De Wet Potgieter (2001). Total Onslaught: Apartheid's Dirty Tricks Exposed (2007 ed.). Zebra Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1555879884.
Koevoet ([ˈkufut], Afrikaans for crowbar, also known as Operation K or SWAPOL-COIN) was the counterinsurgency branch of the South West African Police...
Koevoet. Koevoet was initially an autonomous unit under the nominal authority of the SAP Security Branch, but became part of SWAPOL in 1985. Koevoet worked...
carry out a specific task or to deal with a particular area of crime. Koevoet, translated into English as 'crowbar', but officially known as the Police...
Pretoria was forced to demobilize some 1,600 members of Koevoet (Afrikaans for crowbar). The Koevoet issue had been one of the most difficult UNTAG faced...
African and South West African Special Forces units such as 32 Battalion and Koevoet. One of these was the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), a unit that carried...
until 1980). Some historical military units, such as South West Africa's Koevoet, were only defined as police for political reasons. Services such as the...
operating bases. It also deployed specialist counter-insurgency units such as Koevoet and 32 Battalion, trained to carry out external reconnaissance and track...
African Border War. It was at first extensively used by the infamous "Koevoet" police counterinsurgency unit in northern Namibia during the apartheid...
Pretoria was forced to demobilise some 1,600 members of Koevoet (Afrikaans for crowbar). The Koevoet issue had been one of the most difficult UNTAG faced...
lightly armed and that the former Koevoet forces and command structures be done away with, since most of the Koevoet personnel were not trained as police...
which included the formation of several elite special forces units such as Koevoet, 32 Battalion, and the Reconnaissance Commando Regiment. South African...
Publishers. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-9584890-3-4. Hooper, Jim (2013) [1988]. Koevoet! Experiencing South Africa's Deadly Bush War. Solihull: Helion and Company...
production of six nuclear bombs. Creation of police counter-insurgency unit, Koevoet. Resignation of Vorster as State-President in the wake of the Muldergate...
model for the latter created Rhodesian Selous Scouts and the South African Koevoet. The Flechas were organized in combat groups (platoons) of about 30 men...
Africa and joined the security branch in Oshakati. In 1979, he co-founded Koevoet, an SAP counterinsurgency unit tasked with combating the People's Liberation...
Pienaar announced he was suspending the activities of the Koevoet paramilitary force. The Koevoet issue had been one of the most difficult UNTAG faced. This...
from the triple mounts and re-mounted on the Casspir APCs employed by the Koevoet on their counter-insurgency operations in Angola and South West Africa...
Selous Scouts comprised most of the initial personnel of the South African Koevoet unit, and it used similar tactics. This unit was responsible for many human...
recruited men who had been retrenched from the SADF elite units as well as Koevoet. Due to this contract, Executive Outcomes became a target for a campaign...
of Opuwo living in slums on international humanitarian aid, or joined Koevoet paramilitary units to cope with the livestock losses and widespread famine...
Publishing. pp. 14–19. ISBN 978-1-85532-122-9. Hooper, Jim (2013) [1988]. Koevoet! Experiencing South Africa's Deadly Bush War. Solihull: Helion and Company...
counterinsurgency tactics based on those the SADF and paramilitary forces (such as the Koevoet) employed in Namibia and elsewhere. Of particular interest to the G-2 was...
claim Namibian citizenship, also withdrew to South Africa completely. Koevoet Namibian Defence Force South West African Police (SWAPOL) Duignan, Peter...
Global Information
South West African Police (SWAPOL)