The South African Police Silver Cross for Gallantry was instituted in January 1985 and it was only awarded to members of the South African Police who had displayed conspicuous and exceptional gallantry or had performed a fearless or outstanding act through which they lost or imperilled their own lives.
Marthinus Jacobus Nel, fondly known by his family as “Marti” or “André”, was born in the Vryheid Government Hospital on Monday the 28th of February 1966. Marti was the middle child of the three children of Ben and Francis Nel, and he had an older sister Antoinette Muriël “Toontjies” van Zyl, and a younger brother Francois Webb Nel.
Marti grew up at Inyathi, a small mining town near Hlobane, where his father had been employed on the mine as a boilermaker. The Nels were part of the pioneers of the Inyathi area. Antoinette van Zyl once wrote how her brother Marti and his friends used to spend many hours playing in the bushes and mountains surrounding Inyathi. Marti’s grandmother, on his mother’s side of the family, was Muriël Koekemoer who lived in Mason Street in Vryheid. Francois Nel says that “Ouma Muriël” was Vryheid’s very own fortune teller and that all of Vryheid’s “Wanna know the futures” paid her a visit at some point to have a cup of tea and see their futures in the bottom of a cup. Muriël moved to the Old Age Home in Utrecht in later years where she passed away and was laid to rest.
Marti started his...
