President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment of Roelf Meyer as South Africa’s ambassador to the US — after a year of diplomatic missteps — is a shrewd decision.
In the early 1990s, former president FW de Klerk picked Meyer as the National Party’s chief negotiator. The ANC, which had just been unbanned, chose Ramaphosa as its lead negotiator.
The two men are widely credited with having brought about the 1993 constitution, which birthed the new South Africa in 1994.
After 1994’s all-race elections, Nelson Mandela appointed Meyer to his government of national unity until the National Party exited it. Out of government, he joined hands with Bantu Holomisa to form the United Democratic Movement in the opposition ranks.
He continued his contribution to conflict resolution in and outside the country over the years. Lately, he led the Public-Private Growth Initiative, which helped produce a series of sector master plans during Ramaphosa’s first term as president.
A year ago, Ramaphosa tapped him as a co-leader of the national dialogue. And through the years, he has continued as a sounding board to the president on many critical issues confronting the head of state.
His appointment has been widely welcomed by various parties in and outside South Africa who see him as a unifier and a committed patriot. Even at 78 years old, he is still sharp enough to understand South Africa’s place in the world of nations.
His appointment has yet to be approved by his host country. But even in the volatile environment that prevails in the White House these days, the chances of his rejection are slim.
This sets South Africa on a path to rebuild government-to-government relations, which have been badly damaged in the recent past. For years, Pretoria neglected the relationship with the US, a key trading partner, in favour of relations with the Global South, particularly China. At one point our ambassador spent more time at home than at her post in Washington.
When Ramaphosa finally appointed Ebrahim Rasool as ambassador, his pick committed a cardinal diplomatic sin by insulting his host president. Unsurprisingly, he was booted out of Washington.
A second amateurish move was appointing Mcebisi Jonas, Ramaphosa’s investment envoy, as a special envoy to the US. After his unflattering remarks about Donald Trump, America’s president, were dug up, the US government made it clear he wouldn’t be welcome.
Before the drama of the past year, South Africa had done pretty little to prepare for the eventual expiry of the Africa Growth & Opportunity Act, a US law that grants duty-free and quota-free access to thousands of African exports.
South Africa’s proximity to Russia has also rattled the US.
Meyer has his work cut out for him. He will have to rebuild trust — at its lowest — between the two governments. He will quickly have to ensure that people-to-people and economic relations are restored.
It would be unrealistic at this late stage to expect him to get South Africa to be invited to the G20 summit. But it’s worth the effort.
He will have to breathe new life into the stop-start talks towards a mutually beneficial trade deal with the US.
And, crucially, he has to explain South Africa’s domestic policies to the US government. In this, he will require both full support and prayers.
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