South Africa has turned to a familiar hand in an attempt to calm a worsening diplomatic standoff with the Trump administration, naming Cyril Ramaphosa’s veteran ally Roelf Meyer as ambassador to the United States.

The choice signals a calculated effort to steady relations that have frayed under Donald Trump, whose administration expelled former envoy Ebrahim Rasool after he publicly criticized the American leader. With tensions lingering, Ramaphosa faced mounting pressure to send a figure capable of navigating both political sensitivities and historical fault lines.

Meyer’s résumé reflects that brief. He served as defence minister between 1991 and 1992 under the National Party government led by F. W. de Klerk, before taking on a central role in the negotiations that dismantled apartheid. Those talks paved the way for Nelson Mandela’s landmark 1994 election. Meyer later joined Mandela’s cabinet, overseeing constitutional development from 1994 to 1996.

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His appointment lands at a moment when relations have been tested by sharp rhetoric and policy decisions from the U.S. Trump has accused South Africa of enabling a “white genocide” against Afrikaners, claims widely rejected by South Africa, and moved to cut financial assistance while offering migration pathways to white South Africans who say they face persecution.

“I can confirm that President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Mr Roelf Meyer as South Africa’s Ambassador to the US,” Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya said in a message to The Associated Press.

Meyer’s Afrikaner background adds another layer to the diplomatic calculation, coming shortly after Ramaphosa accepted Leo Brent Bozell III as United States’ envoy to South Africa. Bozell, a conservative figure aligned with Trump, began his tenure under strain after being summoned by South Africa’s foreign ministry in March. At a business gathering, he criticized South Africa’s ties with Iran and its affirmative action policies, arguing they favor Black South Africans over other groups.

Analysts say Meyer’s experience could prove decisive. John Stremlau, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, described him as “the right person, at the right time.”

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“He is an excellent and experienced negotiator who not only negotiated in South Africa, but has brokered agreements elsewhere in various other places under very difficult circumstances,” Stremlau said, adding that Meyer needs to “stabilize the relationship” between the nations.

“But it will be difficult for him because Trump’s executive orders last year laid out a racist agenda against South Africa’s Black majority, cutting all financial assistance to them and offering refugee status to Afrikaners,” Stremlau said.

Beyond bilateral friction, deeper geopolitical disagreements persist. South Africa has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide in Gaza, a move that has further widened the gap with the U.S.

The strain has spilled into global forums as well. Trump skipped the G20 Leaders Summit hosted by South Africa in 2025 and has not extended an invitation to South Africa for the G20 meetings scheduled for Miami later this year.

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