The passing last week of Richard Nel closed the chapter on a remarkable man who has been a giant in local politics for many years.
Mr Nel (84) passed away while on the South Coast.
He was Glencoe mayor eight times and also served as deputy mayor.
For two years, he was deputy mayor of Endumeni (that came into being in 2000, following amalgamation with Dundee and Wasbank).
Up until his daughter (Linda Els) and her husband (Poena) took over the running of Glencoe Motors, Richard and his loyal wife Louisa could always be found behind their desks at the garage or out on the forecourt chatting to motorists.
Richard was born in Glencoe in 1937.
His dad was with the railways and found himself being transferred around the province.
Richard never schooled in the town because, when he was two, the family was transferred to Port Shepstone.
The railways eventually sent the Nels to Pietermaritzburg, where Richard completed schooling at Voortrekker High School.
He met Louisa, who hails from the Cedarville area, while staying at the YMCA and she was participating in folk dancing.
Richard was later at the apprentice school where he was a trainer and Louisa worked for the NPA.
When they married, she had to leave because, in those days, a husband and wife could not both work for the government.
Later, an opportunity arose for Richard to join his cousin in Glencoe, who ran a business installing (among other things) tanks and pumps.
At first sceptical, Richard left what he felt was a very good job in Pietermaritzburg to trek up north. While Louisa was not too happy to leave Pietermaritzburg, in the end the family did move and the rest is Glencoe history.
Richard and cousin Jan started JanRic (Pty) Ltd, which branched into trucking, the petrol station, construction and even ran the Nissan / Datsun dealership in Dundee, where Right Price Hardware is now.
Richard was asked to join the Glencoe Town Council and served for 23 years.
He and Ben Viljoen are the only two Alderman to be honoured as such by Glencoe in recognition of their loyal service.
It was while he was mayor in the early 1990s that the Glencoe Council took the historic decision to bring in the-then Indian Local Affairs Committee (LAC) to serve as full councillors.
This was ground-breaking and Glencoe would go down in history as the first town to make such a progressive step.
As mayor and working with Town Clerk Hennie Jacobs, they also offered the old Sithembile Council the opportunity to sit in on all meetings as observers.
In an earlier interview with the Courier, Mr Nel explained that: “This helped ease our transition when the Glencoe Transitional Council was formed and Agnes Ndlovu became the first black mayor and me deputy mayor. These decisions were sometimes seen to be ‘way ahead of their time’.
“It was hard work, but we did it for the town. Politics was not really a factor back then.” Glencoe was also one of the few towns not to vote to have their councillors buy back their pensions (Dundee did), which ultimately cost the ratepayers ‘hundreds of thousands of rands’ in towns where pensions were bought back.
“There was also the issue of the Gandhi memorial – some did not want it erected in front of the municipality, but I said why not? This is part of history and we should be proud of it.”
Anthon Raubenheimer, a former Endumeni councillor, served for many years with Mr Nel around the ‘horseshoe table’.
“Richard was very passionate about Glencoe and was insistent that the town should never play second fiddle to Dundee.
“One can admire his loyalty to Glencoe and its people.” Mr Raubenheimer said Mr Nel was ‘never one to beat around the bush’ and was never a ‘pushover’ when it came to decision-making.
“He was respected by all councillors – regardless of politics. My deepest condolences to Louisa, Linda and the family.”
A funeral service will be held on Friday.
However, because of Covid-19 restrictions, attendance will be limited and Linda has asked anyone wanting to pay tribute to her dad to be at Glencoe Motors at around 12:15, when the funeral cortege will drive past in the form of a parade to honour Mr Nel’s memory – the memory of a man whose contribution will be remembered.
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