Andries Carl Nel (born 2 October 1965) is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.
[1] His father, Nicolaas Nel, a South African diplomat from an Afrikaner family, was serving as consul in New Orleans at the time.
[1] After the June 1999 election, he was appointed as the ANC's whip in the second Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Justice,[1] in which capacity columnist Robert Kirby criticised him as an "odiously smug African National Congress flunky".
[3] After the 2009 election, President Jacob Zuma appointed Nel to deputise Jeff Radebe as Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.
[12] The Mail & Guardian reported that the Gauteng branch of the ANC had lobbied for Nel's ascension to cabinet in the run-up to the election, feeling that he had "not got the recognition he deserves".
[13] He served in the Justice Ministry until a reshuffle on 9 July 2013, when Zuma appointed him to replace Yunus Carrim as Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
[27] Ahead of the May 2024 general election, Nel appeared on the ANC's list of parliamentary candidates in an apparent return to frontline politics.
[30][31] Announcing his third cabinet in June, President Ramaphosa appointed Nel to deputise Thembi Nkadimeng as Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.