<\/p>\n
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has named veteran political negotiator Roelf Meyer as the country\u2019s next US envoy or SA ambassador to the US.<\/p>\n
Presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya wasn\u2019t immediately available to comment. But, the move was confirmed by the SABC\u2019s New York correspondent Sherwin Bryce-Pease, who got confirmation from the Presidency.<\/p>\n
Roelf Meyer is the new SA Ambassador to USA, SA Presidency confirms to SABC News#sabcnews<\/p>\n
\u2014 Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) April 14, 2026<\/p>\n
Meyer said he had no knowledge of the appointment, when Bloomberg contacted him by phone on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
This as\u00a0Pretoria seeks to steady relations with Washington after a turbulent year.<\/p>\n
Meyer, 78, had been tipped to replace Ebrahim Rasool as ambassador earlier in the day, according to people who asked not to be identified as the information was not yet public.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
Listen\/read: Roelf Meyer hails GNU plan for South Africa<\/p>\n
Meyer, a white Afrikaner who served as constitutional affairs minister during the apartheid era, is widely regarded as one of the architects of South Africa\u2019s democratic transition alongside Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n
He played a central role in negotiations that led to the end of white-minority rule, working closely with leaders of Ramaphosa\u2019s ANC to broker a settlement.<\/p>\n
Ties between Pretoria and Washington have been strained since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.<\/p>\n
President Ramaphosa seen during an event at Emperors Palace Hotel in Johannesburg with other officials as he passes a wall of historic enlarged photos of him interacting with Roelf Meyer in the 1990\u2019s. Image: Elmond Jiyane, GCIS<\/p>\n
US-SA tensions escalated over Trump\u2019s repeated, unsubstantiated claims that South Africa is persecuting white farmers in what he refers to as a \u2018white genocide\u2019 and seizing their land.<\/p>\n
The US government declared Rasool persona non grata in 2025, after he described Trump\u2019s supporters as part of a \u201csupremacist movement\u201d.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
Listen\/read:<\/p>\n
Tony Leon on trade, Trump, and diplomacy: What he\u2019d do as ambassador
\nRasool\u2019s boot from the USA: Did the ambassador overstep diplomatic boundaries?
\nEbrahim Rasool made \u2018unacceptable\u2019 comments, US says<\/p>\n
Last week, Ramaphosa accepted the credentials of newly appointed US ambassador to SA Leo Brent Bozell, signalling a potential reset in diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n
Bozell met Meyer in March (see main\/feature photo), during which the US envoy said he was \u201cprivileged\u201d to learn more about his role in South Africa\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n
Zane Dangor, Director-General of South Africa\u2019s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said on Monday that Ramaphosa had made a decision on who will be the next ambassador to Washington, without identifying the nominee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be the kind of person who I think is ideally suited for the environment,\u201d Dangor was quoted as saying by the Daily Maverick news website.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
South Africa accredits new US envoy amid tensions with Trump
\nSA appoints Thage to embassy in Washington \u2013 report<\/p>\n
Meyer currently serves as a director of the In Transformation Initiative, a non-profit that he helped found that promotes democratic transitions and conflict resolution.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a02026\u00a0Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Ramaphosa #names #Roelf #Meyer #ambassador<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has named veteran political negotiator Roelf Meyer as the country\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[2226,8467,210,6455,8466],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}