President Ramaphosa appoints Roelf Meyer as South Africa's new ambassador to the US

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Roelf Meyer as South Africa's Ambassador to the United States, an announcement made on Tuesday, April 15, 2026. This appointment comes after South Africa had been without an ambassador in Washington since March 2025, when the Donald Trump administration expelled Ebrahim Rasool. Meyer, 78, is a seasoned negotiator known for his pivotal role in South Africa's transition to democracy in the 1990s, where he served as chief negotiator for the National Party government and worked alongside Ramaphosa, then the chief negotiator for the ANC. After the 1994 democratic elections, Meyer was Minister of Constitutional Development and Provincial Affairs in Nelson Mandela's cabinet. He later co-founded the United Democratic Movement in 1997 before retiring from active politics in 2000. Since then, he has consulted on peace processes in various regions, including Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Kosovo, and the Middle East. Last month, the new US ambassador to South Africa, Leo Brent Bozell III, met with Meyer to discuss challenges between the two countries. Relations between South Africa and the US have deteriorated, particularly after the Trump administration suspended US aid to South Africa, announced a refugee program targeting Afrikaners, and accused South Africa of "white genocide," claims rejected by the South African government. The US also largely abstained from G20 activities hosted by South Africa last year, and Trump has stated South Africa would