Gerry van Tonder was born in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, in 1955. After attending Hamilton High, he completed his secondary education at Thornhill in Gwelo. He joined Internal Affairs in January 1975 and was stationed at Karoi, as a Cadet District Officer. A year later, he reported to Chikurubi in Salisbury as a member of Internal Affairs National Service 4 call-up, to undergo military training. He was posted to Sipolilo, based at Fort Harrison on the Hunyani River in the Zambezi Valley. In November 1976 he was transferred to Mount Darwin where he served in the Intelligence Section. In January 1977 he undertook the Ministry of Internal Affairs' sponsored university degree programme, graduating in 1979 with a Bachelor of Administration (Honours) degree. During university vacations, he was stationed in Sipolilo and Gwelo. At the end of his studies he was posted to Mount Darwin as a District Officer, being the Returning Officer for Rushinga during the Zimbabwe election, and working through the period of transition from the ceasefire and return of the ZANLA insurgents to assembly points. In mid-1980, and with no future prospects as a civil servant, Gerry left Intaf and joined a marketing firm in Salisbury. In 1983 he was head-hunted by FAVCO, the country's largest fresh-produce marketing cooperative, where he became Managing Director. Late 1999 saw Gerry with his British-born wife Tracey and two children leaving Zimbabwe to settle in Derby, England. He is an active member of several international networked Rhodesian associations, including the Rhodesian Army Association, the Rhodesian Services Association and the Rhodesian Light Infantry Regimental Association, the latter as a result of all three of his brothers having served in that battalion.
