Anthon Tobias "Tobie" Meyer is a South African politician who was Deputy Minister of Land Affairs from 1991 to 1996. He represented the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

(NP) in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

from 1987 until 1996, when he resigned from politics to concentrate on his commercial farming interests.

Apartheid-era career

The elder brother of prominent NP politician

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 ...

, Meyer rose to prominence as secretary and then chairperson of the NP's branch in Cradock in the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

, an area that became famous in 1985 for the deaths of the Cradock Four. He was also a director at

Volkskas Bank Volkskas Beperk () was a South African bank founded in 1934 as a Cooperative banking, cooperative loan bank, becoming a commercial bank in 1941. In 1991, by which time it had become South Africa's largest Afrikaner bank, Volkskas merged with Unit ...

and a member of the control board of the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

, and since 1956 he had managed farming interests in

Ficksburg Ficksburg is a town situated at the foot of the 1,750 meter high Imperani Mountain in Free State province, South Africa. The town was founded by General Johan Fick in 1867 who won the territory in the Basotho Wars. He laid out many erven and ...

Humansdorp Humansdorp is a town in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, with a population of around 29,000 as of the 2011 Census. It is part of the Kouga Local Municipality of the Sarah Baartman District. History The town is the centre of the district's l ...

, and

Tsitsikamma The Tsitsikamma National Park is a protected area on the Garden Route, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is a coastal reserve well known for its indigenous forests, dramatic coastline, and the Otter Trail. On 6 March 2009 it was ama ...

. In the 1987 general election, he was elected to represent the NP in the all-white

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

as MP for Cradock. In addition, in March 1991, President

F. W. de Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk ( , ; 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as the seventh and final state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as Deputy President of South Africa, deputy president a ...

appointed him as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, a newly created position in which he deputised Kraai van Niekerk. Responsibility for land affairs was added to his portfolio later in 1991.

Post-apartheid career

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Meyer was elected to continue in Parliament, now in the multi-racial

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. President

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

also retained him as a deputy minister in the new

Government of National Unity A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

, appointing him as Deputy Minister of Land Affairs. In early 1996, Meyer announced that he was resigning from politics in order to manage his farming business full time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Tobie Living people National Party (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa) Politicians from the Eastern Cape Year of birth missing (living people)