BLSA hails Meyer’s ‘political acumen’ ahead of Washington posting
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Roelf Meyer as South Africa’s new US ambassador, with Business Leadership South Africa backing the move as a strategic step to strengthen strained diplomatic and trade relations with Washington.
Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) believes Roelf Meyer has the political acumen needed to strengthen ties between South Africa and the United States.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a key figure in South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy, Roelf Meyer, to be the next ambassador to the United States, his office said Tuesday.
The role is seen as particularly sensitive given South Africa's fraught relationship with President Donald Trump's administration, which expelled the previous ambassador a year ago.
"I can confirm that President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Mr Roelf Meyer as South Africa's ambassador to the US," presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya told AFP.
Meyer would start work "immediately following the completion of all protocols in Washington," he said.
Meyer, 78, was a reformist minister in the last apartheid government led by the National Party (NP) and a key player in the transition to democracy that led to the first all-race election in 1994.
A lawyer by training, he was the chief NP negotiator at multi-party talks in the early 1990s to dismantle apartheid.
He left the NP in 1997 to co-found the United Democratic Movement, but the party failed to garner broad appeal.
In 2006, Meyer joined his erstwhile enemies by joining the ANC.
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Ramaphosa last week received the diplomatic credentials of the new US ambassador, Brent Bozell, a right-wing media critic and staunch supporter of Trump.
Ties between the two countries are strained over a range of issues, from South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the UN top court, to Trump's disputed claims that white Afrikaners are persecuted by the post-apartheid government
“Given the journey he has traversed and the personal investment he has made in building our democracy, Mr Meyer is the right adult to place in the room to ensure we arrest any potential erosion in the relationship between Washington and Pretoria, considering the continued importance of the United States as a trading partner,” said BLSA CEO Busisiwe Mavuso.
She added that the US is a major export market, source of foreign investment, and a provider of employment opportunities for South Africans, with roughly 600 American companies operating in South Africa, many using it as a base for broader regional operations.
Mavuso stressed that BLSA wants South Africa’s foreign policy to be evaluated through the lens of the country’s long-term economic and developmental interests.
“BLSA and its members stand ready to support Mr Meyer in his efforts to strengthen relations with the United States, and we look forward to a new era of collaboration and exploring new opportunities arising from this appointment.”
*AFP contributed to the writing of this article
