Nel
matriculated from Hoërskool Piet Potgieter in
Potgietersrus in the
Limpopo province in 1979, and studied law in
Pretoria. Nel started working as a prosecutor in 1984. He was the
Gauteng Regional Head of the NPA's
Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions) business unit from its inception in 1999 until it was disbanded in 2009. Nel 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 a prosecutor at the NPA, joining
AfriForum with the aim of setting up a
private prosecutions unit, which AfriForum said would operate in the interests of all South Africans. ==Wrestling==