South West Africa Police (SWAPOL)/Koevoet

Zulu Hotel Kavango Screen Printed Patch.

Only a very small number was ever produced.

This item is very hard to find. Guaranteed original. Belonged to a respected and well-known collector. This would be an excellent addition to any military collection.

See my other listings for quality militaria- all with CRAZY STARTS. 

History

Koevoet (translates to crowbar, abbreviated Operation K or SWAPOL-COIN) was the counter-insurgency 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] ] Over the course of the war, it killed or captured 3,225 insurgents and participated in 1,615 individual engagements.