South African president chooses Roelf Meyer as next ambassador to U.S

By Nellie Peyton

JOHANNESBURG, April 14 (Reuters) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has chosen Roelf Meyer, a chief negotiator during the talks to end white minority rule in the 1990s, to be his country’s next ambassador to the United States.

“I can confirm that President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Mr Roelf Meyer as South Africa’s Ambassador to the U.S.,” Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told Reuters on Tuesday.

South Africa has not had an ambassador in Washington since its last one, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled last year after angering the Trump administration.

Meyer, 78, was the chief representative of the white minority National Party government during 1993 talks to end apartheid. Ramaphosa was the chief negotiator for the African National Congress, the liberation movement at the time.

Meyer later served as a minister in the multi-party government led by Nelson Mandela.

(Additional reporting by Nilutpal Timsina and Tim Cocks;Editing by Alexander Winning and Tim Cocks)