South Africa Appoints Veteran Afrikaner Politician as Ambassador to US

Roelf Meyer, 78, will replace Ebrahim Rasool, who was accused by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio of being a ‘race-baiting politician who hates America.’

Roelf Meyer, South African politician and businessan, speaks during "Nation in Conversation" talks at the Nampo Harvest Day Expo in Bothaville on May 15, 2018. Wikus de Wet/AFP via Getty Images

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Roelf Meyer—who was the apartheid-era government’s chief negotiator during talks to end white rule in the early 1990s—as his country’s ambassador to the United States.

Meyer, 78, will replace Ebrahim Rasool, who was expelled in March 2025 and was accused by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio of being a “race-baiting politician who hates America.”