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This article responds to recent claims about K44, the CDCO and related allegations, and then describes the author’s introduction to the unit, vetting, appointment and first impressions of the team. It concludes by stressing the secrecy, compartmentation and invisibility of the group.
Mr Johan Mostert’s reflective essay examines the roots of student radicalism among white South African university students during the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing on his firsthand experience monitoring campus activism after the Schlebusch Commission, he explores the psychological and social factors that led certain individuals toward revolutionary engagement. Mostert argues that radical activists often shared a wounded or unsettled past combined with extraordinary emotional intensity—a temperament that sought a “cause” through which to express frustration and idealism. He contrasts this personality‑driven radicalisation with the broader, non‑violent student opposition to apartheid, noting that only a small minority embraced extremist ideology. The article provides a rare insider’s perspective on the intersection of personality, ideology, and political unrest in South Africa’s university environment.
War in Peace: The Truth About the South African Police’s East Rand Riot Unit, 1986–1994 by Sgt Nick Howarth is a firsthand account of policing during one of the most volatile periods in South African history. Unlike political or academic narratives, this book is written from the perspective of a frontline riot policeman who served in the East Rand during the final years of apartheid and the transition to democracy. Drawing on real incidents, lived experiences and the emotional realities of daily service, Howarth captures the fear, confusion, courage, camaraderie and dark humour that shaped the lives of Internal Stability Division members. The book honours the thousands of riot police officers and their families whose sacrifices were seldom acknowledged, and provides younger and international readers with rare insight into a world usually described from the outside. Its global reception underscores the universal human themes of loyalty, survival, loss and brotherhood. War in Peace stands as an important historical record of a country in conflict, and a tribute to the men who served during those turbulent years.
