Roelf Meyer during an interview with Beeld at his home in Pretoria. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla/Netwerk24) “I can confirm that President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Mr Roelf Meyer as South Africa’s Ambassador to the US,” Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told Reuters on Tuesday.
South Africa has not had an ambassador in Washington since its last one, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled last year after angering the Trump administration.
Meyer, 78, was the chief representative of the white minority National Party government during the 1993 talks to end apartheid. Ramaphosa was the chief negotiator for the African National Congress, the liberation movement at the time.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ED_569120.jpg "Paul Mashatile (deputy president) Cyril Ramaphosa (President ) and Roelf Meyer (Former Minister of Defence and Military Veterans) during day 1 of the First National Convention of the National Dialogue of South Africa at UNISA, Pretoria Main Campus on August 15, 2025. The first national convention is a precursor to the National Dialogue and it aims to identify South Africa's most pressing challenges. (Photo: Gallo Images / Lefty Shivambu)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/000018320.jpg "Roelf Meyer, former South African politician and Cabinet Minister of the National Party who acted as negotiator in the transition to South Africa’s democracy. (Photo: Supplied)")
Meyer later served as a minister in the multi-party government led by Nelson Mandela. DM
(By Nellie Peyton; additional reporting by Nilutpal Timsina and Tim Cocks; editing by Alexander Winning and Tim Cocks)