{{Short description|Former South West Africa Police counterinsurgency organisation}} {{Italic title}} {{Use South African English|date=April 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox government agency |agency_name = Koevoet |nativename = Operation K<ref name=Covert>{{cite book|last=Stiff|first=Peter|title=The Covert War: Koevoet Operations in Namibia, 1979-1989|date=2004|pages=53, 121|publisher=Galago Publishing Pty Ltd|location=Alberton|isbn=978-1919854038}}</ref> |nativename_a = SWAPOL-COIN / SWAPOL-TIN<ref name=Pitta>{{cite book|last1=Pitta|first1=Robert|last2=Fannell|first2=Jeff|title=South African Special Forces|date=1993|pages=32–49|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-1855322943}}</ref> |nativename_r = |logo = |logo_width = |logo_caption = |seal = |seal_width = |seal_caption = |picture = 200px |picture_width = |picture_caption = ''Koevoet Memorial'' at the Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria |formed = June 1979<ref name=Pitta/> |preceding1 = {{flagicon|South Africa|1928}} South African Police (various) |preceding2 = |dissolved = 30 October 1989<ref name=Wren>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE0DD1131F932A35753C1A96F948260|title=South Africa Disbands Special Police in Namibia|work=The New York Times|date=31 October 1989|access-date=2007-10-24 | first=Christopher S. | last=Wren}}</ref> |superseding = {{flagicon|Namibia}} Special Field Force |jurisdiction = South West Africa |headquarters = Oshakati, Oshana Region<ref name=Pitta/> |region_code = |employees = 3,000 ({{circa}} 1988)<ref name="Freedom">{{cite book |first=Piero |last=Gleijeses |title=Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991|year=2013 |pages=498–499 |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |location=United States |isbn=978-1469609683}}</ref> |budget = |minister1_name = Louis Pienaar |minister1_pfo = Administrator-General |minister2_name = Louis le Grange |minister2_pfo = Minister of Law and Order |chief1_name = Hans Dreyer |chief1_position = Major General<br>(1979–1990) |chief2_name = |chief2_position = |chief3_name = |chief3_position = |chief4_name = |chief4_position = |agency_type = Paramilitary |parent_agency = {{flagicon|South Africa|1928}} South West African Police (SWAPOL) |child1_agency = |child2_agency = |child3_agency = |child4_agency = |child5_agency = |keydocument1= |website = |footnotes = }}
'''Koevoet''' ({{IPA|af|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.<ref name="Hooper">{{cite book|title=Koevoet! Experiencing South Africa's Deadly Bush War|last=Hooper|first=Jim|location=Solihull|publisher=Helion and Company|year=2013|orig-year=1988|isbn=978-1868121670|pages=86–93, 113–119, 323}}</ref>
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).<ref name="Poqo">{{cite book | last = Simon Chesterman| title = Civilians in War| year = 2007|edition= 2001|pages=27–29| publisher = International Peace Academy| isbn= 978-1-77007-328-9}}</ref> Koevoet's methods were controversial, and the unit was accused of committing numerous atrocities against civilians.<ref name="sparks">{{cite book|last=Green|first=Sparks|title=Namibia: The Nation After Independence|pages=1–134}}</ref> Over the course of the war, it killed or captured 3,225 insurgents and participated in 1,615 individual engagements.<ref name="Onslaught">{{cite book| last = De Wet Potgieter| title = Total Onslaught: Apartheid's Dirty Tricks Exposed| year = 2001| edition = 2007| page = [https://archive.org/details/civiliansinwar0000unse/page/5 5]| publisher = Zebra Press| isbn = 978-1555879884| url = https://archive.org/details/civiliansinwar0000unse/page/5}}</ref> 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.<ref name="sparks"/>
==History== ===Background=== {{see also|History of Namibia|Decolonisation of Africa}}
Following the end of World War I, the German Empire was dismantled and its African colonies granted to Allied nations as various League of Nations mandates.<ref name=Rajagopal>{{cite book|last=Rajagopal|first=Balakrishnan|title=International Law from Below: Development, Social Movements and Third World Resistance|url=https://archive.org/details/internationallaw00raja|url-access=limited|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/internationallaw00raja/page/n66 50]–68|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0521016711}}</ref> The mandate system was formed as a compromise between those who advocated an Allied annexation of former German and Turkish territories, and another proposition put forward by those who wished to grant them to an international trusteeship until they could govern themselves.<ref name=Rajagopal/> South Africa received the former German possession of South West Africa and was permitted to administer it until that territory's inhabitants were prepared for political self-determination.<ref name=Louis>{{cite book|last=Louis|first=William Roger|title=Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization|year=2006|pages=251–261|publisher=I.B. Tauris & Company, Ltd|location=London|isbn=978-1845113476}}</ref> However, the South African government interpreted the mandate as a veiled annexation and took steps to integrate South West Africa as a domestic province.<ref name=Louis/>
South Africa's attempts to absorb South West Africa became a matter of contention during the 1960s as a result of the increasingly widespread decolonisation of the African continent.<ref name="Müller">{{cite book|last=Müller|first=Johann Alexander|title=The Inevitable Pipeline into Exile. Botswana's Role in the Namibian Liberation Struggle|year=2012|pages=36–41|publisher=Basler Afrika Bibliographien Namibia Resource Center and Southern Africa Library|location=Basel, Switzerland|isbn=978-3905758290}}</ref> Over the next decade, low intensity conflicts broke out in many of the remaining European colonies as militant African nationalist movements emerged, often with direct backing from the Soviet Union and revolutionary left-wing governments in the Middle East.<ref name=Nationalism>{{cite book|last=Derluguian|first=Georgi|editor-last=Morier-Genoud|editor-first=Eric|title=Sure Road? Nationalisms in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique|date=1997|pages=81–95|publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV|location=Leiden|isbn=978-9004222618}}</ref> The nationalists were often encouraged to take up arms by the success of indigenous anti-colonial guerrilla movements around the world, namely in French Indochina and French Algeria, as well as the rhetoric of contemporary African statesmen such as Ahmed Ben Bella, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Julius Nyerere.<ref name=Nationalism/>
During the early 1960s, new nationalist parties such as the South West African National Union (SWANU) and South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) made determined attempts to establish indigenous political structures for an independent South West Africa.<ref name="Müller"/> In 1962, SWAPO formed a militant wing, known as the South West African Liberation Army (SWALA), and began sending recruits to Egypt and the Soviet Union for guerrilla training.<ref name=Camp>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Christian|title=National Liberation in Postcolonial Southern Africa: A Historical Ethnography of SWAPO's Exile Camps|date=October 2015|pages=73–89|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1107099340}}</ref> In 1966 SWALA initiated an insurgency against the South African government, sparking what would later evolve into a wider regional conflict known as the South African Border War.<ref name=Caprivi>{{cite book|last=Kangumu|first=Bennett|title=Contesting Caprivi: A History of Colonial Isolation and Regional Nationalism in Namibia|year=2011|pages=143–153|publisher=Basler Afrika Bibliographien Namibia Resource Center and Southern Africa Library|location=Basel|isbn=978-3905758221}}</ref>
As the war intensified, so did international sympathy for SWAPO's cause.<ref name=Dobell>{{cite book|last=Dobell|first=Lauren|title=Swapo's Struggle for Namibia, 1960–1991: War by Other Means|year=1998|pages=27–39|publisher=P. Schlettwein Publishing Switzerland|location=Basel|isbn=978-3908193029}}</ref> The United Nations declared that South Africa had failed in its obligations to ensure the moral and material well-being of the indigenous inhabitants of South West Africa, and had thus disavowed its own mandate.<ref name=Yusuf>{{cite book|last=Yusuf|first=Abdulqawi|title=African Yearbook of International Law, Volume I|year=1994|pages=16–34|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|location=The Hague|isbn=0-7923-2718-7}}</ref> On 12 June 1968, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which proclaimed that, in accordance with the desires of its people, South West Africa be renamed ''Namibia''.<ref name=Yusuf/> United Nations Security Council Resolution 269, adopted in August 1969, declared South Africa's continued occupation of Namibia illegal.<ref name=Yusuf/><ref name="MAA">{{cite book|last=Peter|first=Abbott|author2=Helmoed-Romer Heitman|author3=Paul Hannon|title=Modern African Wars (3): South-West Africa|pages=5–13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9Aj997IO9gC|isbn=978-1-85532-122-9|year=1991|publisher=Osprey Publishing}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In recognition of this landmark decision, SWALA was renamed the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN).<ref name="Camp"/>
===Formation of Koevoet=== thumb|PLAN insurgents on the march From the early to late 1970s, the brunt of counter-insurgency operations was borne by the South African Defence Force (SADF).<ref name="Dreyer">{{cite book|title=Namibia and Southern Africa: Regional Dynamics of Decolonization, 1945-90|last=Dreyer|first=Ronald|location=London|publisher=Kegan Paul International|year=1994|isbn=978-0710304711|pages=73–87, 100–116}}</ref> The SADF's primary source of manpower were white national servicemen fulfilling their terms of compulsory military service under the leadership of professional career officers.<ref name=Reflections>{{cite book|last1=Potgieter|first1=Thean|last2=Liebenberg|first2=Ian|title=Reflections on War: Preparedness and Consequences|year=2012|pages=70–81|publisher=Sun Media Press|location=Stellenbosch|isbn=978-1920338855}}</ref> The initial commitment of South African troops to the South West African theatre in 1974 was about 15,000 men.<ref name="Dreyer"/> Beginning the same year, however, there was also increasingly widespread enlistment of local armed auxiliaries and semi-official militias.<ref name=Tracking>{{cite book|last=Stapleton|first=Timothy|title=Warfare and Tracking in Africa, 1952–1990|year=2015|pages=111–129|publisher=Routledge Books|location=Abingdon-on-Thames|isbn=978-1848935587}}</ref> The most powerful armed group outside the direct command structure of the SADF emerged in Ovamboland, SWAPO's traditional political stronghold and the source of its support base.<ref name=Tracking/> The Ovamboland civil administration employed a local militia known as the Ovambo Home Guard, established to protect local officials who were often the target of PLAN assassination attempts.<ref name=Tracking/>
The Ovambo Home Guard was assembled, as time passed, into larger numbered units or attached to regular SADF battalions.<ref name=Tracking/> By late 1978, the number of Ovambo Home Guard personnel stood at about 3,000.<ref name=Tracking/> Their relative effectiveness compared to national servicemen sent out from South Africa, who were unfamiliar with the terrain and environment and had more difficulty adapting to Ovamboland, was noted by the government.<ref name=Tracking/> This and other developments resulted in a deliberate policy of "Namibianisation", a reference to the Vietnamization programme the United States had pursued during the Vietnam War.<ref name=COIN>{{cite book|last1=Beckett|first1=Ian|last2=Pimlott|first2=John|title=Counter-insurgency: Lessons from History|year=2011|pages=204–219|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Yorkshire|isbn=978-1848843967}}</ref> The war effort became less likely to entail clear-cut confrontations between foreign South African troops and local PLAN insurgents, but significant numbers of Namibians fighting under South African command.<ref name=COIN/> The main objectives of Namibianisation were to establish a self-sufficient military infrastructure in South West Africa, reinforce the perception of a domestic civil conflict rather than an independence struggle, and reduce casualty rates among South Africa's national servicemen, to which the government was especially sensitive.<ref name=Kenya>{{cite book|last=Nowrojee|first=Binaifer|title=Divide and Rule: State-sponsored Ethnic Violence in Kenya|year=1993|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dividerulestates0000nowr/page/17 17–26]|publisher=Human Rights Watch|location=New York|isbn=978-1564321176|url=https://archive.org/details/dividerulestates0000nowr/page/17}}</ref> Furthermore, the SADF was overstretched and if efficient local forces could be raised to take over the bulk of the defensive and local security tasks, it would be more free to pursue conventional offensive operations.<ref name="Devils">{{cite book|last1=Herbstein|first1=Denis|last2=Evenson|first2=John|title=The Devils Are Among Us: The War for Namibia|url=https://archive.org/details/devilsareamongus00deni|url-access=limited|year=1989|pages=[https://archive.org/details/devilsareamongus00deni/page/n40 28], 61–92|publisher=Zed Books Ltd|location=London|isbn=978-0862328962}}</ref>
Both the SADF and South African Police (SAP) launched parallel initiatives to create Ovambo counter-insurgency units between 1976 and 1980.<ref name="Devils"/> The SADF's programme resulted in 101 Battalion, while the SAP formed ''Koevoet''.<ref name="Devils"/> A senior officer with the SAP's Security Branch, Hans Dreyer, was appointed to lead the latter.<ref name="unrole">{{cite book|last=Tsokodayi|first=Cleophas Johannes|title=Namibia's Independence Struggle: The Role of the United Nations|pages=1–305}}</ref> Dreyer had served with the SAP in Rhodesia during the Rhodesian Bush War and drew heavily on his operational experiences there while shaping Koevoet's mandate and organisational structure.<ref name="unrole"/> Koevoet was to be patterned directly after the Selous Scouts, a Rhodesian special forces unit which included large numbers of former insurgents.<ref name="O'Brien">{{cite book|last=O'Brien|first=Kevin|title=The South African Intelligence Services: From Apartheid to Democracy, 1948-2005|date=2010|pages=104–110|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon|isbn=978-0415433976}}</ref> The SAP especially appreciated the small unit tactics of the Selous Scouts, which had demonstrated how a few operators, disguised as insurgents and trained to high levels of subterfuge, could have an effect utterly disproportionate to their size.<ref name="O'Brien"/>
Koevoet was established in June 1979, at which time the unit consisted of six white South African policemen and 60 of the most skilled trackers from the Ovambo Home Guard.<ref name=Tracking/> The trackers received three months of additional reconnaissance training from SADF special forces before being deployed into Ovamboland.<ref name="Devils"/> They were also instructed in criminal investigation techniques and police procedure by the SAP.<ref name="Devils"/> In May 1979, they captured their first insurgent.<ref name="Devils"/>
Koevoet was formally known as "Operation K" of the SAP Security Branch's special operations division, but that title was almost never used.<ref name="Devils"/> Its existence remained a closely guarded secret until June 1980, when church newspapers in Ovamboland began circulating rumours of a new special forces group linked to assassination of SWAPO sympathisers.<ref name="Devils"/> The rumours had their basis in a "death list" of prominent Ovambo political figures and businessmen who were covert sympathisers of SWAPO, which was allegedly recovered from the body of a local politician killed in a motor accident.<ref name="Devils"/> A number of individuals on the list were subsequently assassinated.<ref name="Devils"/> While South Africa denied the report, officials did name Koevoet and praise it for its efficiency.<ref name="Devils"/>
Koevoet's initial role was to engage in intelligence gathering for the SADF, but it soon adopted its own counter-insurgency campaign of infiltration and raids.<ref name="Devils"/> Being a police unit, Koevoet also investigated politically motivated murders and property destruction.<ref name="Devils"/> The unit rapidly expanded to about 3,000 personnel, about the size of the Ovambo Home Guard.<ref name=Kenya/> At first the numbers of recruits were modest, due in part to limited training facilities and the time it would take to provide them with officers.<ref name="Devils"/> This problem was partly solved by training Koevoet recruits at the Police Counter-Insurgency School in Maleoskop, South Africa.<ref name="Devils"/> There, the recruits received instruction on a unique hybrid syllabus which combined specialist police skills such as anti-riot tactics, road security, and conventional counter-terrorism with basic infantry training resembling that of the SADF and counter-insurgency theory.<ref name="Devils"/> The disbandment of the Selous Scouts in 1980 provided Koevoet with an influx of Rhodesian officers from that unit who were recruited by the SAP.<ref name="Devils"/> White Namibians were also recruited in modest numbers as Koevoet officers, although the SAP faced stiff competition in this regard from the SADF.<ref name="Devils"/> Most white South African policemen were transferred to Koevoet as a result of personal referrals.<ref name="Devils"/>
The overwhelming majority of black Koevoet operators were applicants from the Ovambo Home Guard, who wanted regular employment and better pay.<ref name="Devils"/> The only prerequisite was that they had to speak Afrikaans or English, in order to communicate with their white officers.<ref name="Devils"/> The SAP occasionally recruited Ovambos from Angola, including unemployed former soldiers of the Portuguese colonial army and insurgents from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), who met these qualifications.<ref name="Devils"/> Competition for employment with Koevoet was fierce due to the relatively high pay and benefits, including life insurance, offered by the SAP.<ref name="Devils"/>
===Operational service=== PLAN units operating in Ovamboland were kept supplied by a constant flow of insurgents and war materiel along external infiltration routes through Angola.<ref name=Fist>{{cite book| author1=Steyn, Douw | author2=Söderlund, Arné | author2link=Arne Söderlund |title=Iron Fist From The Sea: South Africa's Seaborne Raiders 1978-1988|year=2015|pages=203–205, 304–305|publisher=Helion & Company, Publishers|location=Solihull|isbn=978-1909982284}}</ref><ref name="CIA1">{{cite web|title=SWAPO's Army: Organization, Tactics, and Prospects|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85S00317R000300030002-3.pdf|location=Langley |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|date=October 1984|access-date=7 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120171540/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85S00317R000300030002-3.pdf|archive-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> Koevoet monitored an area adjacent to the Angolan border with screening patrols coordinated between three permanent base strongpoints at Opuwo, Rundu, and Oshakati.<ref name="Devils"/> It was also permitted to establish its own internment facility for captured PLAN prisoners just north of Windhoek.<ref name="Devils"/> Patrols were carried out in Casspir mine-protected vehicles and sometimes lasted for weeks on end.<ref name="Uhuru">{{cite book | last = David Lush| title = Last steps to Uhuru: an eye-witness account of Namibia's transition to independence| year = 1993|edition= 1993|pages=44–45| publisher = New Namibia Books| isbn= 978-9991631127}}</ref> Koevoet operators spent most of their time following suspicious tracks in search of insurgents, sometimes for over a hundred kilometres.<ref name="Devils"/> PLAN was forced to alter its tactics accordingly.<ref name="Devils"/> Following raids and attacks, PLAN cadres would scatter.<ref name="Devils"/> Many ceased wearing military boots with readily identifiable sole patterns and walked barefoot or in civilian shoes.<ref name="Devils"/> They camouflaged their tracks, retraced their steps, and changed footwear to throw off Koevoet trackers.<ref name="Devils"/> More commonly, the insurgents would withdraw until they had reached appropriate terrain, then ambush the Koevoet response team.<ref name="Devils"/> [[File:Caspir1.jpg|thumb|left|200px|SAP Casspir similar to those utilised by Koevoet.]] In April 1980, Administrator-General Gerrit Viljoen announced that transfer of some control over local military and police forces to Namibians would occur once the necessary structures were implemented.<ref name=Kenya/> This marked a new step in South Africa's Namibianisation campaign, and in 1985 Koevoet was formally integrated with the South West African Police (SWAPOL).<ref name=Kenya/> At the time, 80% of Koevoet's manpower consisted of locals from Ovamboland, with the remaining 20% being white officers and Ovambos from elsewhere, namely Angola.<ref name=Kenya/> Off-duty Koevoet operators were prime targets for PLAN assassination attempts; between 1979 and 1982, for example, at least 198 were killed by insurgents at home.<ref name="O'Brien"/> By 1982, about 40 Koevoet operators were being killed in targeted assassinations per year.<ref name="Devils"/> Their families were also subject to intimidation.<ref name="Devils"/> Thereafter, the South African government permitted Koevoet personnel to retain their weapons at home.<ref name="Devils"/>
In 1983, Koevoet attracted considerable controversy when an Angolan citizen serving with the unit, Jonas Paulus, was convicted of murder, attempted rape, and armed robbery by the South West African Supreme Court in Windhoek.<ref name="Devils"/> Paulus and an accomplice went on a crime spree with a captured PLAN rifle, and had identified themselves as insurgents.<ref name="Devils"/> The duo killed an elderly farmer and abducted several young girls, after which they were captured by other members of Koevoet and turned over to the civil police.<ref name="Devils"/> Paulus was sentenced to death and hanged in Windhoek on 4 June 1985.<ref name="Devils"/> Around the same time, a white Koevoet non-commissioned officer, Norman Abrahams, appeared in court on charges of having murdered a suspected SWAPO sympathiser in his custody.<ref name="Devils"/> The charges were dropped after the prosecution failed to establish whether Abrahams or one of several other Koevoet personnel present had actually committed the murder; the South African government reached an out of court settlement with the victim's family.<ref name="Devils"/> These cases were notable because they generated considerable publicity about Koevoet in South Africa itself, and forced the unit to disclose details of its operations previously kept secret. For example, the use of a PLAN weapon by Paulus was explained by the fact that Koevoet possessed an inventory of captured uniforms and arms, which members often used to impersonate insurgents.<ref name="unrole"/> An Atrocities Liaison Committee was also established in Ovamboland to review excesses committed by members of the security forces while on duty.<ref name="Devils"/>
The Paulus and Abrahams trials caused a public outcry, compelling SWAPOL to issue a statement that it would not condone any atrocities committed by Koevoet and would not hesitate to prosecute members of that unit.<ref name="Devils"/> For the first time SWAPOL's civil police and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) began internal investigations of Koevoet operations.<ref name="Devils"/>
In 1977, South West Africa's administrator-general had issued AG Proclamation 9, which empowered any non-commissioned officer of the SAP (and subsequently, SWAPOL) to arrest and detain anybody in designated "security districts", including Ovamboland, without a warrant.<ref name="Devils"/> Koevoet invoked this proclamation to detain suspects for up to thirty days without trial, and simply evoked it again once the thirty days had expired, in effect giving itself the power of indefinite detention.<ref name="Devils"/> Its transition of jurisdiction to SWAPOL, however, opened the unit to more scrutiny in the local judicial system, and in 1986 the Windhoek Supreme Court ruled that Koevoet could not hold suspects for more than thirty days without legal representation.<ref name="Devils"/> This was because captured insurgents were not held as prisoners of war, but rather apprehended by a police unit for trial in open courts as common law criminals.<ref name="Devils"/>
===The 1988 ceasefire and final PLAN offensive=== {{see also|Operation Merlyn}} As a result of the Brazzaville Protocol and subsequent Tripartite Accord, South Africa agreed to grant Namibia independence in exchange for a parallel Cuban withdrawal from Angola and a commitment by the Angolan government to cease all assistance to PLAN.<ref name="James">{{cite book|title=A Political History of the Civil War in Angola: 1974-1990|last=James III|first=W. Martin|location=New Brunswick|publisher=Transaction Publishers|year=2011|orig-year=1992|isbn=978-1-4128-1506-2|pages=207–214, 239–245}}</ref> Under the terms of the agreement, both the Cuban withdrawal and the independence process in Namibia would be monitored by two multinational peacekeeping forces known as the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM) and the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG), respectively.<ref name=Hampson>{{cite book|last=Hampson|first=Fen Osler|title=Nurturing Peace: Why Peace Settlements Succeed Or Fail|year=1996|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nurturingpeacewh0000hamp/page/53 53–70]|publisher=United States Institute of Peace Press|location=Stanford|isbn=978-1878379573|url=https://archive.org/details/nurturingpeacewh0000hamp/page/53}}</ref> UNTAG planned to confine both PLAN and the SADF to their respective bases, demobilise all paramilitary forces that belonged to neither the SADF nor to the civil police, and supervise the return of refugees via designated entry points to participate in new elections.<ref name=Hampson/>
PLAN and the South African security forces began observing an informal truce which went into effect on 10 August 1988.<ref name="Sitkowski">{{cite book|last=Sitkowski|first=Andrzej|title=UN peacekeeping: myth and reality|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Westport, Connecticut|year=2006|pages=80–86|isbn=978-0-275-99214-9}}</ref> This was scheduled to become a permanent ceasefire on 1 April 1989, at which time UNTAG was supposed to arrive in force and monitor the belligerent parties.<ref name=Hampson/> However, UNTAG's deployment was beset with delays, and PLAN was able to begin covertly moving its forces in Angola to the border.<ref name="Stiff">{{cite book|title=Nine Days of War|last=Stiff|first=Peter|year=1989|publisher=Lemur Books (Pty) Ltd|isbn=978-0620142601|location=Alberton|pages=20, 89, 208, 260}}</ref> UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar declared that Koevoet was considered a paramilitary force not part of the SADF or the civil police, and should therefore be disbanded.<ref name=Hampson/> The continued existence of that unit, he claimed, contravened the spirit of the independence process and their use of heavy weapons violated specific provisions concerning what equipment SWAPOL was permitted to carry to maintain basic law and order.<ref name=Hampson/> South Africa bowed to pressure and effectively deactivated Koevoet in December 1988, although the unit could still be remobilised as needed.<ref name=Peacemonger>{{cite book|last=Goulding|first=Marrack|title=Peacemonger|date=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/peacemonger0000goul/page/158 158–171]|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore|isbn=978-0801878589|url=https://archive.org/details/peacemonger0000goul/page/158}}</ref>
PLAN had consistently maintained that a precondition of any settlement was that it be permitted to establish base camps inside Namibia.<ref name="Refugeecrisis">{{cite book|last1=Zolberg |first1=Aristide|last2=Suhrke|first2=Astri|last3=Aguayo|first3=Sergio|title=Escape from Violence : Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World|url=https://archive.org/details/escapefromviolen00zolb |url-access=limited |year=1989|pages=[https://archive.org/details/escapefromviolen00zolb/page/n114 100]–102|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0195363623}}</ref> The South African government consistently rejected PLAN's demands, likely because it feared the insurgents would interfere with the political process.<ref name="Refugeecrisis"/> The strategy of taking advantage of a ceasefire to establish an armed presence inside the country had previously been employed by other militant groups in the region, namely the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA).<ref name=Peacemonger/>
PLAN interpreted a general directive by the UN for all Namibian exiles to return home as ''de facto'' approval for it to begin its deployment.<ref name="sparks"/> The insurgent commanders assured their troops that sympathetic UN personnel would provide them secure passage once inside Namibia.<ref name="Clairborne">{{cite news|title=SWAPO Incursion into Namibia Seen as Major Blunder by Nujoma|last=Clairborne |first=John|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/04/07/swapo-incursion-into-namibia-seen-as-major-blunder-by-nujoma/7182b414-2fd3-4036-b3f8-be9debd58840/|newspaper=The Washington Post|location=Washington DC|date=7 April 1989|access-date=18 February 2018}}</ref> On the morning of 1 April, the first PLAN cadres crossed into Ovamboland, unhindered by UNTAG, which had failed to monitor their activity in Angola due to the delays in its arrival.<ref name="Sitkowski"/> South Africa accused PLAN of violating the ceasefire.<ref name="Sitkowski"/> With tensions rising, de Cuéllar immediately contacted SWAPO's delegation at New York and ordered it to rein in PLAN.<ref name="Sitkowski"/>
At the end of the day, with no signs of the PLAN advance abating, the UN Special Representative in Namibia, Martti Ahtisaari, lifted all restrictions confining the SADF to its bases.<ref name="Sitkowski"/> The responsibility of stopping the incursion fell to SWAPOL until six battalions of South African army regulars could be mobilised and deployed to Ovamboland.<ref name="Sitkowski"/> In light of this situation, Ahtisaari granted the South African government's request to remobilise Koevoet.<ref name=McMullin>{{cite book|last=McMullin|first=Jaremey|title=Ex-Combatants and the Post-Conflict State: Challenges of Reintegration|year=2013|pages=81–89|publisher=Palgrave-Macmillan|location=Basingstoke|isbn=978-1-349-33179-6}}</ref> The decision was made after joint consultations with South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha and UNTAG commander Dewan Prem Chand.<ref name=Bailey>{{cite book|last=Bailey|first=Sydney|title=The UN Security Council and Human Rights|year=1994|pages=31–33|publisher=Palgrave-Macmillan|location=London|isbn=978-0333629826}}</ref> The number of Koevoet operators authorised for remobilisation was approximately the size of two battalions.<ref name=Bailey/>
Koevoet and other SWAPOL units were able to fight off PLAN in a series of chaotic delaying actions until the SADF's arrival.<ref name="Sitkowski"/> Combined SADF and SWAPOL forces proceeded to drive PLAN back across the border in a counteroffensive known as Operation Merlyn.<ref name="Sitkowski"/> Koevoet's key role in containing the initial PLAN advance had the effect of persuading many South African officials that it was the only force capable of keeping the peace in Ovamboland during the political transition.<ref name=Peacemonger/> Louis Pienaar, the territory's Administrator-General, refused to withdraw Koevoet from Ovamboland after Operation Merlyn was concluded.<ref name=Peacemonger/> According to Pienaar, UNTAG's failure to stop the incursion demonstrated it was impotent to ensure PLAN maintained the ceasefire.<ref name=Peacemonger/> Koevoet was needed to prevent further infiltration attempts by insurgents in the future.<ref name=Peacemonger/> Lieutenant General Dolf Gouws, commissioner of SWAPOL, also released statements in which he declared that "if Koevoet were removed, the way would be open to lawless government".<ref name="Stiff"/> As a compromise, the UN permitted Koevoet to continue operating in Ovamboland, albeit in an ostensibly civil role; operators were prohibited from carrying any weapons other than handguns and were restricted to the mundane duties of maintaining public order.<ref name=Leverage>{{cite book|last1=Krasno|first1=Jean|last2=Hayes|first2=Bradd|last3=Daniel|first3=Donald|title=Leveraging for Success in United Nations Peace Operations|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/leveragingforsuc0000unse/page/35 35–47]|publisher=Praeger|location=Westport, Connecticut|isbn=978-0275978839|url=https://archive.org/details/leveragingforsuc0000unse/page/35}}</ref> In practice, Koevoet disregarded the UN's directives and continued carrying out counter-insurgency patrols with automatic weapons.<ref name=Leverage/> The fact that the individual operators were allowed to keep their personal weapons at home made efforts to disarm them largely impractical.<ref name=Leverage/>
===Disbandment=== Koevoet's continued presence in Ovamboland became a matter of serious contention as UNTAG began supervising the return of Namibian refugees to participate in the territory's upcoming elections, many of whom were SWAPO supporters.<ref name=Peacemonger/> Koevoet operators, who continued to perceive SWAPO as their enemy, responded by breaking up political rallies held by the returnees.<ref name=Leverage/> Within a few weeks of its deployment, UNTAG had received over fifty formal complaints from Ovamboland residents, alleging misconduct on the part of the security forces and Koevoet in particular.<ref name=Leverage/> Koevoet was accused of assaulting SWAPO supporters and firing into crowds at rallies with live ammunition.<ref name=Leverage/><ref name=Fetherston>{{cite book|last1=Fetherston|first1=A.B.|title=Towards a Theory of United Nations Peacekeeping|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|year=1994|isbn=978-0333614624|page=[https://archive.org/details/towardstheoryofu00feth/page/67 67]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/towardstheoryofu00feth/page/67}}</ref> Namibian refugees being repatriated from Angola were intimidated by Koevoet's presence due to its controversial reputation among exiles in general and SWAPO supporters in particular.<ref name=Hearn>{{cite book|last=Hearn|first=Roger|title=UN Peacekeeping in Action: The Namibian Experience|date=1997|pages=79–83|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-0812216202}}</ref>
On 3 April, de Cuéllar had notified the UN Security Council that Koevoet had been reactivated.<ref name=Bailey/> The decision to remobilise Koevoet, while not in accord with the agreements which the belligerent parties and the UN had concluded, was credited with defusing a potential crisis.<ref name=Bailey/> Nevertheless, the Security Council demanded that South Africa disband Koevoet permanently.<ref name=McMullin/> Pienaar refused to do so, citing the April incursion.<ref name=Peacemonger/> De Cuéllar approached SWAPO officials and insisted they refrain from undertaking further military operations, which South Africa could use as a pretext to justify the continued deployment of Koevoet.<ref name=Peacemonger/> He also flew to Pretoria to meet with Pik Botha and South African Minister of Law and Order Adriaan Vlok.<ref name=Peacemonger/> During the meeting, the South African officials offered to take steps towards demobilising Koevoet in exchange for UNTAG sharing intelligence it possessed on PLAN movements and activities, as well as taking steps to demobilise PLAN.<ref name=Peacemonger/> De Cuéllar agreed to work with the Angolan government and SWAPO president Sam Nujoma to ensure PLAN was properly demobilised.<ref name=Peacemonger/>
In late April, UNTAG again lifted all restrictions confining the SADF to its bases, allowing the security forces to remove arms caches from Ovamboland and verify the absence of any remaining insurgents.<ref name=Peacemonger/> By the end of May, nearly all the PLAN insurgents were accounted for, and were confined to their bases in Angola above the 16th parallel south under close UNTAG and UNHCR supervision.<ref name="Sitkowski"/> Likewise, the SADF returned to its bases.<ref name="Sitkowski"/> UNTAG systematically disarmed the insurgents and repatriated them to Namibia as civilian refugees without differentiating between members of PLAN and SWAPO's political wing.<ref name=Demob>{{cite book|last1=Colletta|first1=Nat|last2=Kostner|first2=Markus|last3=Wiederhofer|first3=Indo|title=Case Studies of War-To-Peace Transition: The Demobilization and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants in Ethiopia, Namibia, and Uganda|year=1996|pages=127–142|publisher=World Bank|location=Washington DC|isbn=978-0821336748}}</ref> In all, 43,400 SWAPO members were repatriated to Namibia, at least 32,000 of whom were former insurgents.<ref name=Demob/>
SWAPOL responded to these overtures by reducing the size of Koevoet to about 1,600 personnel; the remaining operators were reassigned to other divisions.<ref name=Peacemonger/> Prior to September 1989 between 1,200 and 2,000 Koevoet operators received new assignments and postings within SWAPOL.<ref name=McMullin/><ref name=Hearn/> UNTAG continued receiving complaints of violence and political intimidation being committed by ex-Koevoet elements in the civil police.<ref name=McMullin/> UNTAG had initially included a small civil police contingent of 500, but this was increased to 1,000 in May 1989 and subsequently to 1,500 by September.<ref name=Leverage/> The UNTAG police contingent, known as CIVPOL, was tasked with monitoring SWAPOL's activities and discouraging the further integration of Koevoet operators with the civil police.<ref name=Leverage/> As part of its mandate, CIVPOL performed joint patrols with Koevoet and other SWAPOL units.<ref name=Leverage/> This proved nearly impossible because Ovamboland was still inundated with land mines planted by PLAN insurgents and CIVPOL lacked mine-protected vehicles like the Koevoet Casspirs.<ref name=Leverage/> The CIVPOL vehicles also possessed inferior off-road performance compared to the Casspirs and would often be left behind during the joint patrols.<ref name=Leverage/> UNTAG initially rejected CIVPOL's requests for its own Casspirs due to the claims touted by PLAN that these vehicles were associated with repression of the Namibian people.<ref name=Leverage/> This reasoning was later abandoned due to the practical difficulties of the joint patrols, and CIVPOL was finally permitted to acquire several Casspirs from South Africa.<ref name=Leverage/> Acts of political intimidation witnessed by CIVPOL monitors could be reported to their local headquarters, which in turn lodged complaints with the local SWAPOL precinct.<ref name=Leverage/>
On 16 August, South Africa's acting state president F.W. de Klerk ordered Koevoet confined to its bases, and the unit effectively ceased operations.<ref name="NYT1">{{cite news|title=Some Namibia Special Policemen Confined to Bases|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/16/world/some-namibia-special-policemen-confined-to-bases.html|work=The New York Times|location=New York City|date=16 August 1989|access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref> Almost two weeks later, United Nations Security Council Resolution 640 was passed, condemning Koevoet for its apparent "intimidation and harassment of the civilian population" and calling for its immediate disbandment, as well as the dismantling of its command structure.<ref name=Demob/> In late September, the South African government demobilised 1,200 Koevoet operators.<ref name=Peacemonger/> The remaining 400 operators continued to remain on standby until 31 October, when the unit was formally disbanded.<ref name=Wren/><ref name=Peacemonger/> SWAPOL also took steps to demobilise ex-Koevoet operators integrated into the civil police, but this proved to be a more gradual process.<ref name=McMullin/>
===Postwar status=== Due to concerns that unemployed and poorly educated Koevoet veterans would use their paramilitary skills for criminal purposes, the South African government announced it would permit any discharged member of Koevoet to continue drawing pay indefinitely until Namibian independence.<ref name=Wren/> Koevoet officers benefited from a pension fund and pension payment system established for them some years prior to independence.<ref name=Demob/> Their pensions were paid by the South African government until 1990, after which the Namibian government assumed responsibility for the pension system.<ref name=Demob/> No pension deductions were made from the schemes of constables or non-commissioned officers.<ref name=Demob/> The Namibian government also assumed responsibility for severance pay following independence; in 1990 each unemployed Koevoet veteran received lump sums ranging from $500 to $1,500 in Namibian currency.<ref name=Demob/><ref name=McMullin/> These benefits were only awarded to members of Koevoet who had served with the unit between 1988 and 1990; those with earlier service records were excluded.<ref name=McMullin/> Most reintegration programmes devoted to Namibian veterans have explicitly excluded ex-Koevoet operators, who became the object of national stigma due to their service with such a controversial unit.<ref name=McMullin/>
Following Namibian independence, all paramilitary elements of the Namibian police were consolidated into a new unit, the Special Field Force.<ref name="Das">World Police Encyclopedia, ed. by Dilip K. Das & Michael Palmiotto published by Taylor & Francis. 2004. pp. 583-588.</ref> Conventional counter-terrorism became the responsibility of the unrelated Special Reserve Force.<ref name="Das"/>
==Structure and organisation== [[File:Namibia homelands 78.jpeg|thumb|300px|Map of Namibia, 1980s. Regions such as Kaokoland, Ovamboland, and Kavangoland were given theoretically self-governing status under South African law. In the northern part of the country, it was these areas where PLAN (and by extension, Koevoet) were most active.]] Koevoet's jurisdiction spanned three regions in northern Namibia: Kaokoland, Ovamboland, and Kavangoland.<ref name=Pitta/> Operations were coordinated by a single headquarters at Oshakati, with two smaller regional headquarters being established in Opuwo and Rundu.<ref name="Devils"/> Basic training for Koevoet operators was carried out at a training school at Ondangwa, although more specialised instruction could later be provided in South Africa.<ref name=Pitta/> Koevoet also operated a detention facility just north of Windhoek, where it interned captured PLAN insurgents.<ref name="Devils"/> Temporary Koevoet encampments and bases were strung along the border, and in some cases the unit shared a partitioned base with the civil police or the SADF.<ref name="Devils"/>
Koevoet was organised with a disproportionate emphasis on small unit tactics and most of its engagements were fought at the platoon or section level.<ref name=Pitta/> The unit was structured into 24 platoon-sized fighting groups, which each received the prefix ''Zulu''.<ref name=Harmse>{{cite book|last1=Harmse|first1=Kyle|last2=Dunstan|first2=Simon|title=South African Armour of the Border War 1975–89|date=23 February 2017|pages=22–26|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1472817433}}</ref> The Zulu teams were designated alphabetically from A to Y and an individual team was identified by its letter's corresponding code in the NATO phonetic alphabet (i.e. ''Zulu Alpha'').<ref name=Harmse/> A team was usually composed of 40 black Ovambo constables and no more than 4 white officers.<ref name=Harmse/> The team was led by a warrant officer and further divided into sections led by sergeants, which were capable of operating autonomously.<ref name=Harmse/> While in the field, the sections were accompanied by a support element which handled logistics and intelligence.<ref name=Pitta/> Each team had four Casspir mine-protected armoured vehicles, all of which carried ten passengers.<ref name="Devils"/> Most of the Koevoet operators in a section remained mounted in the vehicles, but others proceeded ahead on foot and watched the ground for insurgent tracks.<ref name=Pitta/> Operators were paid a bounty (known informally as a ''kopgeld'') for every insurgent they killed or captured.<ref name="Devils"/> Smaller bounties were also awarded for captured PLAN weapons, based on their condition and lethality.<ref name="Devils"/> The bounty for a captured insurgent varied anywhere from 2,000 to 20,000 rand.<ref name="Devils"/>
In 1985, Koevoet had about 1,000 personnel under arms.<ref name=Kenya/> Between 700 and 800 of the Koevoet operators serving in 1985 were black Namibians drawn from the local population in Ovamboland.<ref name=Kenya/> The remainder were black recruits from other regions and white officers, predominantly South Africans.<ref name=Kenya/> Relatively few local whites were recruited into Koevoet because the SAP and later SWAPOL faced stiff competition from the military for suitable white Namibian officer candidates.<ref name="Devils"/> A handful of white Rhodesian exiles were recruited as officers during the early 1980s as well as some Angolans of Ovambo origin who joined the enlisted ranks.<ref name="Devils"/> Koevoet did not have dedicated operational medics, and all of those serving with the unit were from the South African Medical Service, a branch of the SADF.<ref name="Hooper"/>
By early 1989, Koevoet had almost tripled in size to about 3,000 personnel.<ref name=Kenya/><ref name="Freedom"/> Over the course of that year, it was reduced in size to about 1,600 personnel, a figure which remained more or less consistent between April and September 1989.<ref name="NYT1"/> Most of the Koevoet operators removed from the unit were given new assignments or demobilised. At the time of its disbandment in October 1989, Koevoet numbered only about 400 men.<ref name=Peacemonger/>
==Uniforms and equipment==
Each Koevoet fighting team adopted stylised shoulder patches and T-shirts depicting a mascot animal.<ref name="Hooper"/> Some of the patches also included an illustration of a broken insurgent AK-47 rifle.<ref name=Pitta/> While on operations, Koevoet personnel dressed light and informally.<ref name=Pitta/> Individual operators wore a wide variety of uniforms with little consistency, including SAP camouflage, SWAPOL camouflage, and brown SADF fatigues.<ref name=Pitta/> Late in the war, Koevoet adopted an olive green uniform and green canvas boots to distinguish itself from other police units and the SADF.<ref name=Pitta/>
Like the insurgents, Koevoet operators carried their ammunition in chest webbing rigs; this load-carrying tactic was favoured as it was less likely to restrict movement when moving through thick vegetation.<ref name=Pitta/> The standard issue weapon in the unit was the Vektor R4 and Vektor R5 rifles, although some operators also carried captured PLAN Kalashnikov-pattern rifles.<ref name=Pitta/> Koevoet sections were also issued support weapons during operations, namely the FN MAG general-purpose machine gun and the M79 grenade launcher.<ref name=Pitta/> A few sections had access to Milkor MGLs or captured PLAN RPG-7s.<ref name="Hooper"/>
Koevoet initially possessed no vehicles aside from three Hippo armoured personnel carriers, which were designed to be blastproof and mine-resistant.<ref name=Pitta/> As Koevoet was accustomed to fighting on foot, there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm for vehicle-borne operations.<ref name=Pitta/> However, in time the unit's leadership opted to modify the Hippos essentially as infantry fighting vehicles and integrate them into Koevoet teams to increase their mobility.<ref name=Pitta/> Koevoet Hippos were open-topped, as the hull roofs made the vehicles too hot for the extreme temperatures in Ovamboland and degraded situational awareness.<ref name="Hooper"/> Interior water tanks were also fitted, as well as additional rifle racks and turrets for heavy weapons.<ref name="Hooper"/> The Hippos were initially mounted with general-purpose machine guns, such as FN MAGs, captured PLAN PKMs, and Browning M1919s.<ref name="Hooper"/> In time, some were fitted with ZPU-2 anti-aircraft guns and even a French variant of the 20mm MG 151 cannon.<ref name="Hooper"/>
After 1980, the Casspir replaced the Hippo in Koevoet service, and weapon mounts became more standardised.<ref name=Harmse/> Most Koevoet Casspirs were armed with a .50 calibre Browning M2 heavy machine gun on the hull roof, directly behind the driver's compartment.<ref name="Hooper"/> Ten Casspirs were fitted with 20mm cannon in lieu of the heavy machine gun, and a few section commanders replaced the single Browning with a twin mount for two general-purpose machine guns.<ref name="Hooper"/> It was not uncommon for Casspirs, like the Hippos, to be armed with M1919s or captured PKMs as auxiliary support weapons.<ref name="Hooper"/> Very late in the war, the Casspir was complemented in Koevoet service by the WMF Wolf Turbo, a similar vehicle optimised for Namibian conditions.<ref name="Hooper"/> Some Casspirs and Wolf Turbos were equipped with a mount for a 60mm mortar on the hull roof; this was used for suppressing ambushes.<ref name="Hooper"/>
==Tactics==
Koevoet's tactics were shaped in response to PLAN efforts to create insecurity in South West Africa's northern districts. An integral part of PLAN's strategy was to organise insurgent cells in the region, which could effectively harass the security forces and politically indoctrinate the population to undermine the South African administration and later, the South African-sponsored government of national unity.<ref name=Covert/> The emphasis on politicisation by PLAN insurgents was the result of their training in the Soviet Union and other socialist states, which was not confined to tactical instruction but extended to the procedures for establishing a covert political-military infrastructure within enemy-held areas.<ref name=Shultz>{{cite book|last=Shultz|first=Richard|title=Soviet Union and Revolutionary Warfare: Principles, Practices, and Regional Comparisons|url=https://archive.org/details/sovietunionrevo00shul/page/121|url-access=registration|year=1988|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sovietunionrevo00shul/page/121 121–123, 140–145]|publisher=Hoover Institution Press|location=Stanford, California|isbn=978-0817987114}}</ref> Aside from political activities, PLAN sabotaged rural infrastructure, namely power lines.<ref name=Covert/> The insurgents also laid land mines along known military patrol routes to hinder South African convoys.<ref name="Mines1">{{cite web|title=Namibia Mine Ban Policy|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/1999/namibia.html|location=Geneva|publisher=International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC)|year=1999|access-date=15 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716001119/http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm%2F1999%2Fnamibia.html|archive-date=16 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Koevoet's response was twofold: firstly, the unit carried out patrols to intercept PLAN insurgents near the Namibian border before they could get any further into the country itself.<ref name="Devils"/> Secondly, it carried out what were essentially counter-intelligence operations aimed at compiling intelligence about PLAN activities while breaking up that movement's own intelligence network.<ref name="Devils"/>
Half of Koevoet's manpower was on patrol at any given time.<ref name="Devils"/> The unit's headquarters at Oshakati identified areas where the likelihood of a PLAN presence was the greatest, and dispatched teams to patrol these districts in search of the insurgents.<ref name="Devils"/> Koevoet operators obtained their intelligence by observing suspicious tracks or interrogating the local population.<ref name="Devils"/> Each patrol lasted between one and two weeks.<ref name="Devils"/> The teams either spent the night in SADF and police camps or slept in the bush.<ref name="Devils"/> It was standard procedure to circle villages in the area and study the tracks to determine if there were any recent signs of unusual activity.<ref name=Tracking/> After the patrol was over, the team spent a week resting, retraining, and maintaining its equipment in base while another was dispatched to take its place.<ref name=Pitta/>
Telltale cues in the environment indicating suspicious activity, including tracks and other signs, were known as ''spoor'', an Afrikaans hunting term. Koevoet trackers were trained to scrutinise their environment down to the smallest detail, such as observing where dust had been disturbed on fallen leaves.<ref name=Pitta/> The trackers walked or ran ahead of the remainder of the team, which followed in the vehicles, a tactic which Koevoet adopted in 1980.<ref name=Tracking/> Occasionally Koevoet would be able to plot the insurgents' route after following their tracks; a section would then be dispatched ahead in an attempt to cut them off or intimidate them by firing its weapons.<ref name=Tracking/> The purpose of this tactic was to sow panic among the insurgents, who would leave more obvious tracks and discard equipment as they attempted to outdistance their pursuers.<ref name=Tracking/> If the spoor was lost, the trackers would be joined by others who dismounted from the vehicles and walked in a staggered line while they attempted to recover the spoor.<ref name=Pitta/> The trackers frequently shouted clues and instructions to each other as they advanced.<ref name="Devils"/> When they became exhausted, they were permitted to ride in the vehicles, and a fresh detachment of trackers dismounted to take their place.<ref name="Devils"/> It was not uncommon for spoor to be followed for days on end. The longest distance a Koevoet team followed a single spoor without interruption was 185 kilometres.<ref name="Devils"/>
In many cases, the insurgents would attempt to ambush the team if they became aware of the pursuit.<ref name=Pitta/> Koevoet trackers were usually able to discern that an ambush was imminent by studying the growing concentration of tracks, and in this event the team would circle the suspected ambush area in its vehicles, laying down suppressive fire.<ref name=Pitta/> On other occasions, they would attempt to suppress the suspected ambush with mortars.<ref name=Pitta/>
Koevoet's counter-intelligence activities were equally effective, largely because the unit was more in contact with the civilian population at the local grassroots level, and unlike the intelligence organs of the SADF, was organised specifically with unconventional (i.e. counter-insurgency) warfare in mind.<ref name="Devils"/> Koevoet was able to wage a successful irregular campaign against PLAN using "pseudo guerrillas", operators attired in PLAN uniforms who carried captured Soviet weapons.<ref name=Reno>{{cite book|last=Reno|first=William|title=Warfare in Independent Africa|date=2011|pages=102–103|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1107006126}}</ref> This helped sow suspicion in the ranks of the real insurgents and leave their informants uncertain as to whether any insurgent was a real PLAN fighter; it thus undermined PLAN's capacity to conduct politicisation programmes within local communities.<ref name=Reno/> The "pseudo guerrilla" programme was a closely guarded secret until Koevoet was compelled by the Namibian courts to disclose some details during the trial of Jonas Paulus in 1983.<ref name="unrole"/>
==Allegations of war crimes== While Koevoet had an exceptional combat record in Namibia—during the final decade of the war it killed a little over 2,800 insurgents and captured another 463 while suffering 151 casualties<ref name=Kenya/>—it also cultivated a reputation for being particularly brutal and ruthless, as well as being indifferent towards the SADF's rules of engagement.<ref name="Days">{{cite book|title=Days of the Generals|last=Hamann|first=Hilton|year=2007|orig-year=2003|location=Cape Town|publisher=Struik Publishers|isbn=978-1868723409|pages=64–65}}</ref>
Over the course of the South African Border War, PLAN accused Koevoet of committing numerous human rights violations, especially extrajudicial killings and assassinations.<ref name="Poqo"/> Koevoet was accused of mistreating detainees and prisoners, subjecting them to various forms of torture, including physical assault, electric shocks, and sleep, food, and water deprivation.<ref name="Poqo"/> The unit operated its own detention facility, which was not subject to oversight by the civil authorities and where prisoners could be detained indefinitely.<ref name="Devils"/> The detainees included captured insurgents as well as any civilian suspected of possessing vital information related to PLAN activities.<ref name="Devils"/> In 1986, the Namibian courts ruled that as all the Koevoet's detainees had been arrested by a police unit as common law criminals, they were entitled to legal representation within a period of thirty days.<ref name="Devils"/> Koevoet later subverted this ruling by evoking the Terrorism Act.<ref name="Devils"/>
Two especially contentious issues which emerged with regards to Koevoet was the common practice of displaying corpses of dead insurgents on the unit's Casspirs, and the use of "pseudo-guerrilla" forces.<ref name="Poqo"/> During the early 1980s, SWAPOL and the SADF issued vehement denials that the enemy dead were being publicly exhibited, and warned that members of the security forces who indulged in such behaviour would be prosecuted.<ref name="Devils"/> In December 1986, photographs were leaked to the international press which displayed two dead insurgents draped over the hull of a Koevoet Casspir.<ref name="Devils"/> Koevoet claimed that the insurgents were not being exhibited, but simply being carried back to base, presumably for the purpose of claiming ''kopgeld'',<ref name="Devils"/> stating that it was impractical to store the corpses inside the Casspirs due to the vehicles' limited internal stowage space.<ref name="Devils"/>
PLAN insisted that Koevoet's "pseudo-guerrilla" forces were being used to carry out atrocities later attributed to insurgents.<ref name="Mitchell">{{cite book|last1=Mitchell|first1=Thomas|title=Native vs Settler: Ethnic Conflict in Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland and South Africa|date=2008|pages=144–145|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Westport|isbn=978-0313313578}}</ref> The most controversial incident allegedly involving "pseudo-guerrillas" was the murder of a family of 8 Ovambo civilians at Oshipanda.<ref name="Devils"/> The civilians were shot with Kalashnikov rifles, and their home ransacked for valuables.<ref name="Devils"/> A man who escaped the massacre claimed to have recognised a Koevoet constable among the assailants.<ref name="Devils"/> Koevoet and the civil police blamed PLAN for the killings.<ref name="Devils"/>
Perceptions of Koevoet's human rights record among the SADF's general staff were almost universally critical.<ref name="Days"/> General Constand Viljoen, who served as Chief of the SADF between 1980 and 1985, claimed that Koevoet operators "had a cruelty about them that certainly didn't further the hearts and minds of the people....they used cruel, cruel, methods".<ref name="Days"/> His successor, General Johannes Geldenhuys, was no less scathing: "[Koevoet] would, for example, go into an area, clean it up, then collect the bodies and drag them through town behind their vehicles. Obviously this kind of action upset the local population greatly and we'd find we were suddenly getting no more cooperation from the locals".<ref name="Days"/> General Georg Meiring, who served as chief of the South West African Territorial Force between 1983 and 1987, stated that "Koevoet was not a law unto itself, Koevoet was just unto itself...I hated working with them."<ref name="Days"/>
In 1996, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to investigate human rights abuses committed in South Africa and Namibia under the apartheid system. The commission suggested that Koevoet carried out the Oshipanda murders, based on the account of the surviving eyewitness.<ref name="TRC">{{cite book|last1=Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa|title=Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report Volume Two|publisher=Department of Justice and Constitutional Development|location=Pretoria|page=76|url=http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/report/finalreport/Volume%202.pdf|archive-date=4 November 2009|access-date=19 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091104033712/http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/report/finalreport/Volume%202.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was favourably inclined towards PLAN's claims that Koevoet operators carried out atrocities during "pseudo-guerrilla" operations to discredit the insurgent cause.<ref name="TRC"/> The commission found that rape by Koevoet operators "was common, and women and girls of all ages were victims".<ref name="TRC"/> It held Koevoet responsible for the summary execution of captured PLAN insurgents, including those who were wounded or otherwise incapacitated, and for the maltreatment of detainees at its internment facility.<ref name="TRC"/>
==See also== {{Portal|South Africa}} *Eugene de Kock, notable former Koevoet operator *Selous Scouts *32 Battalion *Flechas *Senoi Praaq
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Wiktionary|Koevoet}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090829075311/http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/untagFT.htm United Nations Transition Assistance Group]
Category:Apartheid in South West Africa Category:Government paramilitary forces Category:Non-military counterinsurgency organizations Category:Military history of Namibia Category:Indigenous counterinsurgency forces Category:Law enforcement in Namibia Category:Namibia–South Africa relations Category:Organisations associated with apartheid Category:Organizations disestablished in 1989 Category:Organizations established in 1979 Category:Paramilitary organisations based in Namibia Category:Special forces of South Africa Category:1979 establishments in South West Africa Category:1989 disestablishments in South West Africa Category:South African war crimes