‘Bulldog’ Nel quits NPA
State advocate joins AfriForum’s new prosecuting unit to go after dodgy officials
PROSECUTOR Gerrie Nel, who came to worldwide attention for securing the murder conviction of Oscar Pistorius, has quit the NPA to join lobby group AfriForum’s new prosecuting unit. Nel’s forensic questioning and ferocious style attracted global interest as the socalled “Blade Runner” trial was broadcast around the world after double amputee Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend, former Port Elizabeth model Reeva Steenkamp , in 2013. Nel, dubbed “the bulldog” during his 36-year career, starts his new job today and said yesterday he would not only be going after political high flyers. “Anyone who is allegedly involved in corruption‚ regardless of their standing in society‚ whether they are a public figure or not‚ will be prosecuted by us if they are not prosecuted by the NPA,” he said. “This is not just about political prosecutions. It is about ensuring corruption is stopped and people are held to account.” He said he had resigned as a state prosecutor because he believed the NPA had a tendency to selective prosecutions and that everyone was seemingly not equal before the law.
Afriforum is no stranger to the courts‚ having fought several cases involving affirmative action and university language policies‚ but this unit’s work would be a departure from the lobby group’s usual civil litigation focus.
Nel said the decision to join AfriForum was not one that had been taken lightly or instantly.
“There have been discussions on it for more than a year.
“This has been a long time coming‚” he said, adding that the decision to leave the NPA had nothing to do with politics.
“It is about a challenge‚ which I could not refuse‚ and about delivering justice to the people of South Africa.
“My vision for this team is to assist the country’s justice system.
“I have 100% faith in those I have left behind at the NPA and South Africa’s criminal justice system,” he said.
He denied any disagreements with NPA head Shaun Abrahams‚ whose office would ultimately authorise the Afriforum team’s prosecutions.
“I believe in the supreme authority of the law,” Nel said.
“AfriForum’s newly founded private prosecuting unit gives me the opportunity to help ensure that justice triumphs from within civilian society‚ irrespective of the position of the person who is guilty of corruption. “AfriForum and I are now in a position to prosecute corrupt persons who are not prosecuted by the NPA.
“I think it’s a brilliant new concept and I think it’s necessary.
“AfriForum will fund all the prosecutions. We’re aiming high.”
AfriForum’s chief executive Kallie Kriel said that “nobody is above the law” after he was asked whether President Jacob Zuma might be one of those subject to a private prosecution.
Abrahams has yet to pronounce on a Pretoria High Court order delivered last year that the 783 corruption charges against the president be reinstated.
Kriel said Nel’s appointment would send a clear message to corrupt politicians, and national, provincial and local government officials that they could no longer be indemnified from prosecution due to their political contacts.
Nel was already well known in South Africa before taking the Pistorius case, but became renowned during the trial due to his sharp eye for detail and his take-no-prisoners approach.
His interrogations prompted at least one complaint to South Africa’s Human Rights Commission -which later found Nel had no case to answer.
Top private forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan is believed to be one of the new prosecuting unit members.
O’Sullivan has been instrumental in driving anti-corruption investigations into some top government officials, including disgraced former police commissioner Jackie Selebi‚ who was convicted of corruption.
Others on the team’s radar are said to include the Gupta family and those within their business network‚ which allegedly includes top government officials‚ Zuma and his family.
Sources close to the team have said others who could also be pursued are South African Airways chairwoman Dudu Myeni‚ disgraced police crime intelligence boss Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli and Hawks head Berning Ntlemeza. – TMG Digital/TimesLIVE and AFP