South Africa has appointed Roelf Meyer, a former minister and negotiator in the apartheid government, as the new ambassador to the United States in a move by President Cyril Ramaphosa to mend its strained ties with Washington.<\/p>\n
Meyer, 78, replaces Ebrahim Rasool, who was expelled as South Africa\u2019s ambassador to the US in March last year after he accused Donald Trump of leading a global \u201cwhite supremacist\u201d movement. South Africa has gone without diplomatic representation in Washington, DC, since then.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Meyer is a member of the white Afrikaner community, which led the apartheid government in South Africa for decades. Trump has accused the South African government of racial discrimination against Afrikaners.<\/p>\n So who is Meyer and will his appointment help improve ties between the two countries following a turbulent year?<\/p>\n The ties between the US and South Africa have deteriorated since Trump came to power in January 2024.<\/p>\n The US president has criticised the affirmative action policies to address inequalities that have continued since the end of the apartheid era. Trump has falsely claimed that there is a \u201cwhite genocide\u201d in South Africa. His administration has offered expedited citizenship for white Afrikaners \u201cescaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination\u201d.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s move to file a case of genocide against US ally Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has also angered Washington. In January, the US accused South Africa of \u201ccosying up to Iran\u201d after Tehran was invited to participate in a BRICS wargames near South Africa\u2019s coast. Iranian navy vessels were asked to withdraw from the wargames, which also included China and Russia.<\/p>\n South Africa is a founding member of the BRICS grouping that Trump sees as an economic threat.<\/p>\n The BRICS exercise came amid the buildup of US military assets in the Middle East. The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, killing more than 2,000 people so far. A ceasefire was signed last week; diplomatic efforts are under way to end the war.<\/p>\n Trump has also frozen foreign assistance to South Africa over a land law that Trump falsely claims targets the white minority. Billionaire Elon Musk, a close aide of Trump, has also accused the South African government of pursuing racially discriminatory policies, biased against white citizens.<\/p>\n Musk has railed against a South African law that requires that at least 30 percent of a company\u2019s ownership or economic involvement include Black South Africans in order to be eligible to operate.<\/p>\n \u201cThe South African laws are literally super racist, plain and simple.\u00a0It\u2019s not complicated: imagine if the law was called \u201cWhite Empowerment\u201d, instead of \u201cBlack Empowerment\u201d! People would have a seizure,\u201d he posted on his X platform on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa now has more anti-White laws than Apartheid had anti-Black laws. Think about that for a second \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The law is part of the government\u2019s affirmative action to help the Black majority, who remain poor. White Afrikaners, who form some 8 percent of the population, own more than 70 percent of the country\u2019s land.<\/p>\n In a statement on Wednesday, the South African president dubbed Meyer as \u201ca very loyal and patriotic South African, who has distinguished himself in a number of areas where he has worked\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI found him to be more than qualified to be able to work in the United States, recalibrate our relationship with the United States and interface with a number of stakeholders,\u201d Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs it is now, he\u2019s been interfacing with a number of people in the United States, both in Capitol Hill and in the various departments of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Why have ties between the US and South Africa deteriorated?<\/h2>\n
Why was Roelf Meyer appointed as the US ambassador?<\/h2>\n
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