Veteran politician Roelf Meyer as been appointed as South Africa’s next ambassador to the United States
Image: Oupa Mokoena
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed veteran politician Roelf Meyer as South Africa’s next ambassador to the United States, the presidency confirmed on Tuesday, placing a seasoned negotiator at the centre of a sensitive diplomatic post.
The appointment comes amid strained relations between Pretoria and Washington, following the expulsion of South Africa’s previous ambassador by the administration of President Donald Trump last year.
“I can confirm that President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Mr Roelf Meyer as South Africa's ambassador to the US,” presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told AFP.
Magwenya said Meyer would assume his duties “immediately following the completion of all protocols in Washington.”
Meyer, 78, played a prominent role in South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. A reformist minister in the final apartheid-era government led by the National Party, he later became a key figure in negotiations that paved the way for the country’s first all-race elections in 1994.
A trained lawyer, Meyer served as the National Party’s chief negotiator during multi-party talks in the early 1990s that led to the dismantling of apartheid.
He left the National Party in 1997 to co-found the United Democratic Movement, though the party struggled to gain widespread support. In 2006, Meyer joined the African National Congress (ANC), the former liberation movement that led the fight against white minority rule.
Ramaphosa’s appointment of Meyer follows the recent arrival of the new US ambassador to South Africa, Brent Bozell, a conservative media critic and vocal supporter of Trump, whose diplomatic credentials were received last week.
Relations between the two countries have been under pressure over several issues, including South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the United Nations’ top court and Trump’s disputed claims that white Afrikaners face persecution under the post-apartheid government.
Meyer himself is a member of the Afrikaans minority, which the South African government has repeatedly said is not being persecuted.
Tensions escalated in March last year when Washington expelled South Africa’s ambassador after he publicly criticised Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
Despite the diplomatic friction, economic ties remain significant. South Africa is the United States’ largest trading partner in Africa, hosting more than 500 US businesses and approximately 30,000 American citizens.