Ramaphosa names political veteran Roelf Meyer as next US envoy

President Cyril Ramaphosa has named Roelf Meyer, the former National Party minister whose backroom diplomacy helped dismantle apartheid, as South Africa's new ambassador to the US.

Meyer's domestic elevation comes as Ramaphosa faces a separate and more urgent diplomatic emergency in Washington. South Africa's ambassador post fell vacant after Ebrahim Rasool was expelled following a webinar address in which he accused US President Donald Trump of leading a global supremacist movement rooted in white victimhood.

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed to Business Day that Meyer would start immediately in Washington, after Bloomberg News initially reported that Ramaphosa was poised to tap Meyer SA's next envoy to the US.

"I can confirm that President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Mr Roelf Meyer as South Africa's Ambassador to the US," Magwenya said.

"Immediately, once all other protocols have been fulfilled in Washington," he added when asked when Meyer would begin his diplomatic duties.

Meyer is a veteran negotiator who was the chief representative of the former government in negotiations to end apartheid in the 1990s. Ramaphosa was the chief negotiator for the ANC.

Meyer retired from active politics in 2000, but has remained an engaged voice on the country's direction.

He was vocal at the height of state capture, warning that Jacob Zuma's refusal to step down posed a risk to the country, and was instrumental in early talks on the formation of the government of national unity after the 2024 general election.

Meyer, 77, was named as one of 31 eminent people who will guide the national dialogue, a Codesa-style process Ramaphosa has launched to forge a new social compact for a country battered by unemployment, political disillusionment and a fraying government of national unity.

The national dialogue is expected to be modelled on the Codesa talks held as apartheid came to an end, when various stakeholders discussed the technicalities of transition and the framework of a democratic state before 1994.