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20100622

ex-Koevoet cop and ex-SADF officer gunned down

 

Ex-Koevoet cop Charl Marais, 43, found near Olievenhoutbosch squatter-camp – with nine bullet-wounds in his body, and five bullet-holes in his car; also: Retired SADF colonel Thys Eagar of the 61st Mechanical Division was attacked and tortured, together with his wife -- on the 30th anniversary of “Operation Sceptic” against SWAPO by Eagar’s division and other SADF forces…

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An ex-police officer from the old Koevoet (*) unit was found with nine bullet-wounds in his body, waiting for help in the icy cold along the N14 highway near the Olievenhoutbosch squatter camp  south of Pretoria  on Saturday-morning. Fourty-three-year--old Charl Marais, who was discharged from the SAPS about 8 years t with severe post-traumatic stress, now is being kept in a coma at the Unitas-Hospital in Centurion after being shot, reports Beeld newspaper.

Captured Koevoet member SWA police unit during SA border war Since his medical discharge from the SAPS, Marais  --  as a ‘white’ man banned from most of the SA labour market by law --  was forced to earn his keep overseas – working as a private security guard in war-torn areas such as Iraq. 

His brother-in-law George van Schoor of Eldoraigne, Pretoria – where Marais lives whenever he is in South Africa,  said the family has ‘a huge number of questions about the way he was shot down.

Someone doesn’t just fire five ‘warning’ shots…

“ All I know that someone doesn’t fire five shots just to warn a person away. We are waiting for him to wake up so that he can tell us exactly what did happen.,’ said Van Schoor.

Picture left: KOEVOET was a counter-insurgency police unit during the border war between South Africa and the communist insurgents in Namibia. On this picture, a captured Koevoet police officer was paraded in front of the Angolan news media

  • Must have been in a fierce gun-fight:
  • He was referring to the five bullet-holes which were found in Marais’ car , and which made it clear to his family that the ex-cop had obviously had been shooting towards someone while he was seated inside his vehicle. Marais was shot through the rib, groin, leg and stomach – altogether nine bullet-entry wounds were counted on his body. There were five bullet holes in the car: two through the driver’s seat, one in the floor of the car and one through the passenger door – and the inside roof of the car was splattered with blood.

Marais told his family on Friday-evening that he was going to visit friends in Lyttelton. He had arranged with his niece Laure, 20, for the girl to stay awake so that she could turn off the alarm-system upon his arrival. However Laure fell asleep and only realised at 4:45 when she woke up, that her uncle hadn’t arrived home yet. She tried calling his cellphone but could not. At around 7:30am a police officer arrived at the Van Schoor home, alerting them to the fact that Charl Marais was found in serious condition along the N14-highway about 3km before the R55-exit to the Olievenhoutbosch squatter camp.

“Someone drove past and saw him on the road next to the rear wheel of his car. He must have climbed out trying to get someone’s attention. We don’t know how long he’d lain there, but when the police reached him he was ice-cold’.

Van Schoor said his brother-in-law was shot through the rib, groin, leg and stomach – altogether nine bullet-entry wounds were counted. There were two bullet-holes through the driver’s seat, one in the floor of the car and one in the passenger door – and the inside roof of the car is splattered with blood. The car’s battery was dead and did not have any fuel in it. Marais’wallet, cellphone and jacket were missing. “Someone shot him to kill him,’ said Van Schoor.

“”We don’t know whether he was hijacked or whether the criminals drove in the car with him until it ran out of fuel. Those are the questions we are struggling with.’ Police captain Jan Legoabe said the charges being investigated are attempted murder and possible hijacking. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Man-le-in-koue-na-vyf-skote-20100621

 

GREEN BOOTS – KOEVOET:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBqc7FbIcyY

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Friday, 11 June 2010

Retired SADF couple survive torture ordeal
Col-ret. Thys Eagar and wife: nearly murdered on 30th anniversary of “Operation Sceptic” against Swapo by his SADF-61st Mechanical Division…
Retired SADF 61st Mechanical Corps colonel Thys Eagar, 78, and his 74-year-old wife survived a vicious torture-attack by armed black men who broke through the roof of their home at 3am Saturday-morning. Ironically, this attack against the retired pantser-officer and his wife took place exactly 30 years after  Operation Sceptic – the powerful sweep against Swapo during the Angolan border war, and in which col. Eagar’s pantsers of the 61st Mechanical Corps had played a major role on June 10 1980.

Col. Eagar suffered a crushed cheekbone, broken ribs and stab-wounds - and his wife was also repeatedly kicked and stabbed. The black male attackers were still busy throttling the couple  - obviously trying to kill them, since they made no demands. The colonel had already lost consciousness by the time the SAPS showed up, saving them just in time – and capturing one attacker. Hilda Fourie of Beeld newspaper reports that the couple are now recovering at the Unitas Hospital in Centurion. 

Last year, Colonel Eagar and his comrades in the SADF 61st Mechanical Corps veterans held a commemorative ceremony  to honour their fallen comrades from Operation Sceptic at Fort Schanskop at the Voortrekker monument - which was also attended by Ret. General Janny Geldenhuys.

Needless, excessive violence against two unarmed old people:

The couple didn’t hear the men breaking in through the ceiling because both suffer from hearing problems. Mrs Eagar, who said the attack took place a day after her 74th birthday, woke up when people fell on them. “I woke up when two people fell right on top of us on our bed,’ she told Beeld journalist Fourie. “I screamed so loudly that our woman neighbour apparently heard it. That’s also when the struggle and the torture started. ‘

One black man pushed a knife against her throat, then tossed her roughly from the bed and tied up her hands and feet – and repeatedly stabbed the defenceless old military wife with a knife and also kicked her. Colonel Eagar also suffered the same fate. “I asked them in their own language, Zulu, whether they wanted food or money, or what it was they wanted. The only reaction I got from them was a crushing blow with something really hard against my cheek, which broke the cheekbone,’ he said. One of the men then threw a blanket over Mrs Eagar and started to throttle her. Colonel Eagar said he also lost conscienceness twice while they were throttling him. “I just knew I was going to die…’ His wife added: “My husband stopped complaining and then I thought he was dead. They ripped off her wedding band and stole their two cellphones. And then thing got quiet – and she felt someone untying her bonds. When she opened her eyes, she looked into the face of a police officer.

Their son André Eagar (50), said the neighbour woke up from all the screaming and noticing that the lights were on in the Eagar home, contacted the police and other neighbours in the complex. The police showed up while the attackers were beating up  (and throttling) the couple and arrested one man who was still in the bedroom.

He was named as Siphiwe Phakathi, 21  -- who is expected to appear Monday in the Pretoria magistrate’s court – but mysteriously, only on a charge of housebreaking, not of attempted murder. said captain Agnes Huma. Police are searching for a second man, who’d gotten away. “We are grateful that we are still alive,’ said colonel Eagar. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Slagoffer-van-huisrooftog-dink-man-is-dood-toe-hy-ophou-kla-20100609

SADF veterans ‘objected to militancy and combat-gear worn by former ANC-MK veterans”

Col. Eagar is the secretary for the SADF Association, the working committee of ex-military officers which tries to help homeless veterans from the pre-1994 SADF He also runs the website for the SADF 61st Pantser Corps.

Koevoet: In October 1989, under orders of the UN Security Council, 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. This counter-insurgency unit was formed by South Africa after the adoption of UNSCR 435, and was not, therefore, mentioned in the Settlement Proposal or related documents. The UN regarded Koevoet as a paramilitary unit which ought to be disbanded but the unit continued to deploy in the north in armoured and heavily armed convoys. In June 1989, the UN Special Representative told Administrator-General, Louis Pienaar that this behaviour was totally inconsistent with the Settlement Proposal, which required the police to be lightly armed. Moreover, the vast majority of the Koevoet personnel were quite unsuited for continued employment in the South West African Police (SWAPOL). The Security Council, in its resolution 640 (1989) of August 29, therefore demanded the disbanding of Koevoet and dismantling of its command structures. South African foreign minister, Pik Botha, announced on September 28, 1989 that 1,200 ex-Koevoet members would be demobilized with effect from the following day. A further 400 such personnel were demobilized on October 30. These demobilizations were supervised by UNTAG military monitors.[7]http://uk.ask.com/wiki/South_African_Border_War#endnote_reference7

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