South Africa’s ‘bulldog’ who was head of the Scorpions

Advocate Gerrie Nel is best known for his brutal cross-examinations in high-profile cases like the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, the Jackie Selebi corruption case and Chris Hani’s murder trial.

The high-profile advocate gained a reputation in the courtroom as a relentless and aggressive prosecutor for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), earning himself the nickname: “the bulldog.”

While he has left behind his career in the NPA, Nel continues to enforce justice in South Africa through his role as head of the private prosecution unit of Afriforum, a South African civil rights organisation. 

Nel was born in the Limpopo province in 1961, where he grew up and attended school. He matriculated from Hoërskool Piet Potgieter in Potgietersrus in 1979.

Nel always knew what his calling was, and upon graduation, he went straight to Pretoria to pursue a degree in law. “I always wanted to be a prosecutor,” Nel said in an interview with Profiler Africa.

“I think I have the personality to be a prosecutor and nothing else.” By 1993, as a junior prosecutor, Nel landed his first high-profile case. 

As a junior state advocate, Nel had a hand in convicting Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Waluś for the assassination of South African Communist Party Leader Chris Hani.

The two were convicted of murder. Although they were both released on bail by the end of 2016, the case set the precedent for Nel’s career. 

In 1999, Nel became the founding head of the Gauteng division of the Scorpions, an elite group that fused investigators and prosecutors in a single body to fight corruption and organised crime.

The Scorpions’ success in high-profile cases built up public trust in their ability to combat organised crime. By February 2004, the Scorpions had made 349 convictions, with a conviction rate of 93.1%.

In 2001, the Scorpions investigated an arms deal that uncovered irregularities in the award of tenders by the Department of Defence, connected to then-deputy president Jacob Zuma.

In December 2007, at the ANC’s annual conference, the party resolved to incorporate the Scorpions into the South African Police Service (SAPS). 

The dissolution of the unit in 2008 was widely criticised by opposition parties and business sectors, who argued that this would severely compromise the state’s ability to counter corruption. 

Head of the Scorpions

“I do still think that it’s the best concept that there ever was. I think it’s the only way you can really deal with organised crime or any other crime, to have the concept of the Scorpions,” Nel said. 

Nel was a part of the specialised unit from its inception in 1999 until its disbanding in 2008, but his career did not stop with the Scorpions.

The prosecutor put away many criminals during his 35-year-long legal career.

In the 90s, he was responsible for prosecuting dentist Casper Greef, who was found guilty of murdering his wife, and he sent Hazel Johanna Wilhelmina Kidson to prison for 25 years for stabbing her husband to death outside their home in Roodepoort. 

In 2006, Nel took on the role of lead prosecutor in the murder trial of Glenn Agliotti, arrested for the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble. 

However, Agliotti was acquitted of the charges in 2010. The court ruled that the state had not made a prima facie case against him. 

Despite this, Nel’s reputation as ‘the bulldog’began to precede him. A co-worker of Nel’s told the Rapport that “once he smells blood, he does not stop.”

In 2010, Nel secured a conviction for former national Police Commissioner and Interpol President Jackie Selebi, who was accused of corruption and jailed for 15 years. 

Agliotti paid Selebi R1.2 million, which would now be around R2.5 million, to turn a blind eye to his business. Agliotti testified in the case on condition of immunity. 

At the time, BBC News reported that Selebi was the most senior official in the South Africa’s government to be convicted of corruption. 

The trial was not without its challenges. In 2008, Nel was arrested on charges of fraud in front of his wife and children.

It later emerged, according to Jacaranda FM, that suspended NPA head Nomgcobo Jiba was instrumental in securing a warrant for Nel’s arrest. 

The charges against him did not stick and were soon dropped in the Pretoria Regional Court. 

The Oscar Pistorius murder trial

His most well-known claim to fame came when Nel represented the state in the televised Oscar Pistorius murder trial.

Pistorius was accused of murder, after initially being charged with culpable homicide, for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. 

He was convicted of culpable homicide, but this conviction was overturned to a murder conviction by the Supreme Court of Appeal. Pistorius was sentenced to six years.

“Law is a process, so at first we didn’t agree with the judgment, but there’s an appeal and you can take it further and you have to follow this process until you get justice,” said Nel.

“And where I’m sitting after all these years, I still believe in justice.”

Nel’s court manner has been described as aggressive, sometimes sarcastic, theatrical, sceptical and accusatory by the New York Times

He famously demanded that Pistorius look at a photograph of Steenkamp’s headwounds with brain tissue exposed, and was reprimanded multiple times for calling Pistorius a ‘liar.’

Nel quit his high-profile position as chief prosecutor for the NPA in 2017 at the age of 56, just five years before his retirement. 

His departure from the state criminal justice system came as his faith in the institution dissolved. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the criminal justice system has collapsed, it’s a fact,” Nel said. 

But South Africa’s “bulldog” was not done with his legal career yet. Nel took on the role of head of the private prosecution unit of Afriforum, a South African civil rights organisation. 

The private prosecution idea is a new concept that had “never been done before”, according to Nel. 

Currently, the organisation is pursuing a case against the national Energy regulator of South Africa (NERSA) and Eskom for a settlement agreement that would cost taxpayers R54 billion over three years. The settlement has been successfully halted by Afrforum. 

“People must realise that it is quite different from NPA prosecutors who have the whole police service at their disposal to collect affidavits and evidence,” Afriforum said. 

“Afriforum will have to do this itself. [Nel] realises that there will be parties and individuals in the process who would want to make it difficult for him.”