A Koevoet
tracker's story of an Insurgency War.
This is the story of a Kavango tracker who served for six years
with Koevoet ('Crowbar'), the elite South African Police anti-terroist unit,
during the South West African-Angolan bush war of the 1980s. Most white team
leaders lasted only two years; the black trackers walked the tracks for
years. Sisingi Kamongo tells the story of the firty or so firefights he was
involved in; he survived five anti-personnel mine and POMZ explosions and an RPG
rocket on his Casspir APC vehicle; he was wounded three times; he tells of the
trackers looking for the shadows on the ground, facing ambush and AP mines at
every turn; he tells of the art of tracking.... where dust can tell time.
Kamongo's story is supported by two accounts from renowned Koevoet team
leaders, Herman Grobler and Francois du Toit - a powerful colelction of
experiences from South
Africa's most successful counter-insurgency
unit. The first ever account of the bush war by a non-white member of the South
African security forces. A unique, previously untold perspective of the bush
war, by an on-the-ground tracker. A powerful, harrowing read; the tension is
palpable.
