The Covert War

by Peter Stiff

This is the detailed history of the elite policing unit operated by the South African forces on its Namibian border during the 1980s. In 1978, the counter insurgency war on the Angolan/SWA Namibian border was going badly for the South Africans. SWAPO was gaining the upper hand, so the South Africans decided to organise an elite commando-security unit based on the famed Rhodesian Selous Scouts. The unit was handed the Top Secret Project Koevoet ("crowbar") to provide operational intelligence by capturing & interrogating insurgents, but its commander came to realise that Namibia was different to the Rhodesian situation. So, the team reverted to basic police work, building informer networks, recruiting black police officers and skilled trackers. In its ten year existence, Koevoet fought in 1,615 encounters and took 3,225 prisoners - the equivalent of almost six battalions of troops. But, after heroically repelling SWAPO's invasion of Namibia in April 1989 (under direct authority from the United Nations) the unit was ignominiously disbanded and its black members disgracefully abandoned to take their chances at the hands of their former SWAPO enemies.

Genres: War, Africa, History

Hardcover

First published June 23, 2000

Reviews

[Gio Cin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book since it publication is considered ''THE'' book on Koevoet by veterans and others is more a absurd revisionist piece of work that seeks to openly glorify a unit of war criminals and terrorists that fought for the RACIST and violent apartheid government of south Africa to maintain their illegal occupation of namibia through the 1980s as life got more brutal for blacks (it reads more like a play by play account of various battles and skirmishes) Then be a genuine, honest and factual book. This book came out after the TRC Final Reports of the 90s in 2004 yet he started writing it in the late 90s early 2000's. Peter Stiff in his ''research'' relies mostly on interviews with 67 white ex Koevoet members and just 2 SWAPO/plan members... in the ''acknowledgements'' section he says most research was done during the apartheid era, wasn't subject to censorship and that much of the conclusions belong to him, which means that this book is loaded with bias... Koevoet was considered a ''police counter insurgency unit'' during the apartheid era the were made up of mostly poor uneducated men, men with criminal records that included murder, ex FNLA and UNITA Angolan men but its precursor was the Ovambo home guard of the 70s who were made up of aggressive thugs who would patrol the white areas, is were many Koevoet members came from. others included ex SWAPO/plan fighters and some local civilians were threaten with on the spot execution or being tortured into joining Koevoet (''turning'') after getting their recruits they went through 3 months of special forces training and 6 weeks of counter insurgency training in south africa much of this included learning torture tactics and assassination methods. after all of this they were sent back to Namibia to begin work. what they did is patrol rural areas in the north an fight and kill roaming groups of SWAPO insurgents in their big land protected vehicles with gun turret called casspirs, they also went to villages aggressively harassing villagers through beatings abductions and torture. as a police unit they also meted out brutal punishment on thieves rapist etc. but a nefarious aspect about koevoet is there false flag activities meaning that they would commit a brutal crime or atrocity then blame SWAPO they would also dress like SWAPO & act like them, enter villages an cause havoc, rape and murders they would also burn down huts with people still inside basically it is terrorism. With their white officers and black constables this is what namibians had to deal with in the 1980s. but is any of this mentioned in Peter stiffs book?...NOPE it is not its airbrushed as others would say. As peter stiff presents a bull shit view of Koevoet. littered with denialism, apartheid era propaganda, lies and just stupid warped thinking his work is usually dubious and ultimately contradictory towards reality. in the later part of the book stiff absurdly compares SWAPO ''propaganda'' to fucking Nazi Germany propaganda on pages 471-472 the guy is a dumbass. what he doesn't mention is SWAPO assassinating off duty Koevoet members from 1980 to 1982, 189 Koevoet members were murdered eventually swapo was assassinating about 40 of them per year. the 160 dead KIA Koevoet number is nonsense as not even the TRC cites that number. Its a know fact by researchers that koevoet documents are no longer around, either missing or destroyed so its really bullshit when he cites a ''Koevoet report'' in the footnotes (while also having a lot of missing footnotes in the book). here is what the TRC says in volume 2 chapter 2:

''99 Koevoet in particular kept no proper or official records of the identities, numbers or whereabouts of people it killed. It seems that the unit was only really interested in keeping scorecards of those it killed for bounty. These practices were confirmed by journalists who were allowed to travel with security force units, as well as by court testimonies by security force members. At the height of the war, in the early to mid-1980s, Koevoet alone claimed a kill rate of around 300 to 500 people a year, for which its members were paid a bounty per corpse. Rough ‘body counts’ were periodically issued by military headquarters, but there was never any independent confirmation as to whether these figures were accurate or whether the victims were civilians or SWAPO fighters.''

their is other nonsense perpetuated through out the book like he how claims SWAPO ''terrorism'' and ''intimidation'' of Ovambo villages which is bullshit or how just dismisses Koevoet atrocities and crimes as ''propaganda'' which is stupid like the case of Koevoet members disguised as SWAPO burning down 13 schools. a case were a Koevoet solder raped a young girl and planted a bomb in a Lutheran mission hospital that was then defuse. although he does mention a case were 5 black members drowned a woman based on claims of witchdocter. apart from that he down plays apartheid south africa interference in namibian elections then attempts to justify it. peter stiff alsouses that stupid we didnt really lose mentality in the book. over all this book is too dubious to use as a reliable source

[Ellen Pike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant