State advocate Gerrie Nel leaves a ‘legacy of hard work’

“The bulldog”, dedicated state advocate Gerrie Nel has left behind a legacy of “hard work” and being “highly prepared” that has changed the culture of the National Prosecuting Authority.

Nel’s resignation after 35 years of service was met with shock and dismay today by many South Africans, but his professionalism and brilliance has been lauded.

NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku confirmed that Nel had tendered his resignation yesterday, “citing other interests outside the NPA”.

Nel will be joining civil rights organisation AfriForum, to head up a new private prosecuting unit.

“We wished him well in his future endeavours, we wished him all the best.”

Mfaku described Nel as a hardworking professional who had left his mark during his time with the NPA.

“He actually inculcated a culture of dedication, professionalism and hard work within the institution.”

According to Mfaku, Nel epitomised what it meant to be a highly prepared lawyer.

“There is no substitute for preparation in the legal arena; he was always prepared, highly prepared. So he inculcated that culture to the people that he mentored. Now it is an NPA culture.”

Mfaku said that culture would continue through the prosecutors and senior advocates who Nel had mentored.

This meant that high profile cases that Nel had led would be in good hands, Mfaku said.

“If you noticed, as an institution, we think ahead. We always have three advocates to ensure continuity.

“Those people have got intrinsic knowledge of all those matters, they were involved. Now they will continue with the matters and they will deliver justice to the people of this country. That is our mandate,” Mfaku said.

He stressed that the NPA was not short of individuals who had the capacity and depth to handle any matters that came their way.

Nel, who is the former head of the now defunct Scorpions in Gauteng, ahs been nicknamed the “bulldog” prosecutor. He is also a former provincial wrestler who teaches the sport to schoolchildren.

He led the Scorpions’ Operation Bad Guys investigation into then police commissioner Jackie Selebi and the late mining magnate Brett Kebble.

The 56-year-old was the chief prosecutor in the State’s murder case against former Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius. In 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeal changed Pistorius’s culpable homicide conviction to murder.

Advocate Gerrie Nel’s co-prosecutor Andrea Johnson will now lead the State’s case against Pistorius.

“If you noticed, as an institution, we think ahead. We always have three advocates [on a case] to ensure that there is continuity.

“He was with Advocate Johnson, who is a senior deputy and a senior state advocate there. Those people have got intrinsic knowledge of all those matters. They were involved; now they will continue with those matters and they will deliver justice to the people of this country. That is our mandate,” Mfaku said.

Nel had mentored several prosecutors within the NPA and had shared his experience with them. Many of them were still working in the NPA as senior advocates and were now experts within the criminal justice arena, Mfaku said.

“So we are not paralysed. He has actually mentored a lot of people.”

However, after the ANC’s Polokwane conference, Nel was sidelined when President Jacob Zuma appointed his long-standing enemy Advocate Nomcobo Jiba as acting head of the NPA, City Press reported at the time.

The Pistorius case

In November last year, the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein granted the State – led by Nel and Johnson – permission to argue why it thought Pistorius’s six-year jail term was lenient.

This was after Nel filed court papers in an attempt to keep the former Paralympic athlete behind bars for even longer for the murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.

On July 6, Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison by Judge Thokozile Masipa. In her sentencing, Masipa said, while the crime was serious, a long term of imprisonment would not serve justice in this case.

In October 2014, Masipa had sentenced Pistorius to five years behind bars for culpable homicide. On December 3, 2015, the appeals court ruled that it agreed with the State and overturned Masipa’s verdict, changing it to one of murder.

Pistorius shot Steenkamp four times through the locked door of the toilet in his Silver Woods Country Estate home in the early hours of February 14 2013.

He claimed he thought there was an intruder behind the door, about to emerge and harm him, and that Reeva was still in bed.

Nel was only given the Pistorius case after being contacted by a senior prosecutor in Pretoria, who panicked because nobody was available to take the case at short notice. Nel was available.

Steenkamp’s parents have sent their best wishes to the man who “fought for justice” for their daughter.

June Steenkamp said both she and her husband Barry were “devastated” to hear of Nel’s resignation.

“He has been so good to us and he really fought for justice for Reeva. He has become part of the family,” she said.

Steenkamp said she’s optimistic and has faith in the justice system. “We have confidence in whoever will take over. We will miss him [Nel] and we would like to wish him all the best,” she said. – Additional reporting by Monica Laganparsad, News24

 – News24