South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed veteran politician Roelf Meyer as the country’s next ambassador to the United States, a move seen as an effort to strengthen diplomatic engagement between the two nations.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed the appointment on Tuesday.
“I can confirm that President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Mr Roelf Meyer as South Africa’s Ambassador to the US,” Magwenya told Reuters.
Meyer, who previously played a key role in negotiations that ended apartheid in South Africa, did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the appointment.
South Africa has been without an ambassador in Washington since March 2025, when former envoy Ebrahim Rasool was expelled following tensions with the administration of Donald Trump during his second term as U.S. president.
Relations between Pretoria and Washington have remained strained in recent years. Trump has repeatedly claimed that white Afrikaners in South Africa face persecution, allegations the South African government has rejected as unfounded.
The U.S. administration also introduced a refugee programme aimed at Afrikaners, a policy Pretoria criticised as a preferential immigration scheme for white South Africans.
Meyer, 78, is himself an Afrikaner and a prominent figure in South Africa’s political transition. He began his parliamentary career in 1979 under apartheid-era leader P. W. Botha. During that period, he served in several government roles, including minister of defence and later minister of constitutional affairs under President F. W. de Klerk.
His most notable role came during negotiations to end apartheid. In 1993, Meyer served as chief negotiator for the National Party in talks that paved the way for South Africa’s first democratic elections the following year.
At the time, Ramaphosa represented the African National Congress as its chief negotiator. The two men were widely credited with helping to break deadlocks that threatened the historic negotiations.
Following the transition to democracy, Meyer later served in the government of national unity led by South Africa’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela.
According to a biography on the South African presidency website, Ramaphosa has described Meyer as “a true citizen committed to a non-racial South Africa,” highlighting his role in shaping the country’s democratic foundation.
The appointment comes at a delicate time for relations between South Africa and the United States, with Pretoria hoping to restore stronger diplomatic engagement in Washington.
