Roelf Meyer

Roelof Petrus Meyer GCOB (born 16 July 1947) is a South African politician and businessman. A Member of Parliament between 1979 and 1997, he was the chief negotiator for the National Party government during the negotiations to end apartheid. He later co-founded the United Democratic Movement.

During his time in Parliament, Meyer served in the governments of three successive presidents: P. W. Botha, F. W. de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela. After resigning from the National Party in 1997, he co-founded the United Democratic Movement with Bantu Holomisa. He returned briefly to Parliament between 1999 and 2000 before retiring from frontline politics in January 2000.

Early life and education

Meyer, the youngest son of Eastern Cape farmer, Hudson Meyer and school teacher Hannah Meyer, née van Heerden, attended school in Ficksburg and studied law at the University of the Free State, where he completed B Comm (1968) and LLB (1971) degrees. At university, he was president of the conservative "Afrikaanse Studentebond". During his compulsory military service, he was a member of the SADF choir also known as the "Kanaries". Meyer then practised as a lawyer in Pretoria and Johannesburg until 1980.

Early political career

House of Assembly

In 1979, he entered politics as he was elected as a Member of Parliament for the National Party in the Johannesburg West constituency. In 1986, he became Deputy Minister of Law and Order, an important position in P. W. Botha's government: with the declaration of the first State of Emergency in 1985, the National Joint Management Centre (NJMC), chaired by the Deputy Minister of Law and Order, took over as the nerve centre for co-ordination of all welfare and security policies. In 1988, Meyer was appointed as Deputy Minister of Constitutional Development.

In 1991, State President F. W. De Klerk appointed him Minister of Defence as successor to Magnus Malan. Allegedly, the "verligte Nat" ("liberal" or "enlightened" NP politician) couldn't win the respect of the generals in this position. In May 1992, after nine months in office, he resigned and became Minister of Constitutional Affairs and Communication as successor to Gerrit Viljoen. It was in this position that he entered the negotiating process. He also became the chairman of the Beleidsgroep vir Hervorming (Policy Group for Reform).

Negotiations to end apartheid

Meyer became famous in his position as the government's chief negotiator in the Multiparty Negotiating Forum 1993 after the failure of CODESA where he established an amicable and effective relationship with the ANC’s chief negotiator, Cyril Ramaphosa. In this role, he worked closely with Niel Barnard, who was head of the National Intelligence Service and a strong supporter of a negotiated settlement. After the conclusion of the negotiations in November 1993, he became the government's chief representative in the Transitional Executive Council (TEC). Meyer and Ramaphosa received the South African Breweries Leadership and Service Award in 2004.

Post-apartheid political career

Minister of Constitutional Development

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in April 1994, Meyer was elected to the new National Assembly, and President Nelson Mandela appointed him as Minister of Constitutional Development and Provincial Affairs in the multi-party Government of National Unity. His elder brother Tobie Meyer was Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs in the same government. As minister, Meyer worked once again with Cyril Ramaphosa, who was chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly tasked with ratifying the post-apartheid Constitution.

Secretary-General of the National Party

In February 1996, Meyer resigned from the cabinet in order to become secretary-general of the National Party. Because of his continued interest in reforming the National Party, he remained an unpopular figure among the party's right wing, at the time led informally by Hernus Kriel. Indeed, Meyer and Kriel had clashed publicly in the past.

In February 1997, F. W. de Klerk, who remained leader of the National Party, stripped Meyer of his position as secretary-general. In what was viewed as a demotion, Meyer was instead installed at the head of an internal task team charged with conceptualising the party's political future. That initiative was also staunchly opposed by his conservative rivals in the party, and the task team was disbanded less than three months later.

Shortly afterwards, on 17 May 1997, Meyer announced his resignation from the National Party and therefore from Parliament. He also resigned his position as provincial leader of the National Party in Gauteng; he was succeeded by Sam de Beer.

United Democratic Movement

The week after he resigned from the NP, Meyer announced the launch of what he called the New Movement Process, a process to establish a new political party that he hoped would contest the next general elections. Later the same year, Meyer and former Transkeian leader Bantu Holomisa co-founded the United Democratic Movement. At its first elective congress in 1998, he was elected to deputise Holomisa as the party's deputy president.

The United Democratic Movement won fourteen seats in the general election of 1999 and Meyer returned to the National Assembly. However, in early 2000, Meyer announced his retirement from politics, which he said was a personal decision, rather than a political one. He left the National Assembly on 31 January. In Meyer's account, he became "politically homeless" in the aftermath, until, in 2006, he announced that he had applied for membership of the African National Congress.

Later career

After leaving politics, Meyer pursued his business interests, particularly in the timber industry and in consultancy. He was a member of the Strategy Committee of the Project on Justice in Times of Transition at Tufts University and served as the chairman of the Civil Society Initiative in South Africa. He has also consulted on international peace processes and negotiations, for example in Northern Ireland, Rwanda and Kosovo.

From 2012 to 2014, he chaired the Defence Review Committee in South Africa, and during that time, in 2013, he co-founded the In Transformation Initiative, a pro-democracy non profit organisation. The organisation has been involved in the South African land issue, as well as in constitutional negotiations in Sri Lanka.

Awards

He was awarded the Order of the Baobab, Silver, for "His immense contribution in providing special support in the birth of the new democratic South Africa through negotiations and ensuring that South Africa has a Constitution that protects all its citizens." In 1995, he received the prize "Archivio Disarmo - Golden Doves for Peace" from IRIAD.

See also

*Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa
*History of South Africa

References

External links

Roelof Petrus Meyer
at South African History Project

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Roelf
1947 births
African National Congress politicians
Afrikaner people
Defence ministers of South Africa
Living people
Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa)
Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999
Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004
National Party (South Africa) politicians
People from Gqeberha
United Democratic Movement (South Africa) politicians
University of the Free State alumni
Recipients of the Order of the Baobab