AfriForum, Nel for the State in 'Butterfly' case
Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday June 23, 2020 15:17
The AfriForum's Private Prosecution Unit, lead by Adv. Nel, and Adv. Phyllis Vorster, has been mandated in the case to facilitate government's request for mutual legal assistance in the Bank of Botswana fraud and money-laundering matter. The appointment comes in the wake of Directorate Public Prosecutions (DPP) having reportedly submitting a request for mutual legal assistance on September 25, 2019 to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), but the request never got a response.
Then, who is Gerrie Nel?
'Gerrie' Nel born Gerhard C. Nel is a South African advocate who until January 2017 was a prosecutor for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of South Africa. He is nicknamed 'Bulldog' for his tenacity in the courtroom, and for being regularly assigned to difficult and high profile cases. Despite having been a high profile figure for a long time, many may agree that the name Gerrie Nel was locked into people's minds for the 'infamous' Oscar Pistorius and the Jackie Selebi cases.
Nel led the prosecution in the trial of SA's former national police commissioner and Interpol president, Jackie Selebi, who was convicted of corruption in 2010.
In 2012 he received two awards in recognition of his work on the Selebi case. He was also named prosecutor of the year by SA's Society of State Advocates and received a Special Achievement Award from the International Association of Prosecutors for fierce pursuit of the vision of SA's National Prosecuting Authority's ideals to achieve justice.
He was the lead prosecutor in the 2014 trial of Oscar Pistorius for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp and several gun-related charges.
In January 2017, he resigned from his position as prosecutor at the NPA joining AfriForum with the aim of setting up a private prosecutions unit, which it (AfriForum) said would operate in the interests of all South Africans.
Since his departure from NPA, Nel has been a lead advocate for many cases under the Afriforum.
Who then is AfriForum?
AfriForum, according to its biography, is a civil rights organisation that mobilises Afrikaners, Afrikaans-speaking people and other minority groups in South Africa and protects their rights.
AfriForum was founded in 2006 and reportedly refers to itself as a 'citizen's right initiative founded by the trade union Solidarity' and in March this year it was said to have 235,000 contributing members. It has since been involved in many cases in South Africa, some against the government.
Despite AfriForum identifying as a liberal, non-racial, and progressive organisation it has been on numerous occasions been accused of racism and only using black folk for its gains.