Roelf Meyer
South African Ambassador to the United StatesWikipedia
24
MENTIONS
10
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Search complete. 24 mentions across 10 episodes found for "Roelf Meyer".
Oct 20, 2026
Leo Brent Bozell IIIGUEST
That's what's the signature.
Leo Brent Bozell IIIGUEST
So that if you look at our constitution, I was visiting with my friend Rolf Meyer about this.
Leo Brent Bozell IIIGUEST
And he gave me the pocket constitution of South Africa and made it a point to say, look how short.
Leo Brent Bozell IIIGUEST
And it is, you know, as opposed to other documents.
8 MINS LATER
Leo Brent Bozell IIIGUEST
You don't do that to the United States.
Leo Brent Bozell IIIGUEST
That's American exceptionalism.
Leo Brent Bozell IIIGUEST
I say to my South African friends, That when we negotiate from the standpoint of America first, which we do, because that is what it should be.
Leo Brent Bozell IIIGUEST
I think we've gotten away from it.
Dirk KotzéGUEST
Uh, but, you know, I think the point is, is that there are now some new elements emerging.
Dirk KotzéGUEST
The fact that Roelf Meyer is there, you know, it, it's still very new there, but I think it's already complicating the landscape for the Americans.
Dirk KotzéGUEST
The fact that he's there, but he comes with a different message than the conservatives, the, the Solidarity and others.
Dirk KotzéGUEST
It shows that South Africa is not so, such a homogeneous setup-
DJ FreshHOST
... over undiplomatic conduct.
DJ FreshHOST
How soon before he can be asked to leave? Because Roelf Meyer was on the BBC just the other day-
Botsang Modimowame MoiloaGUEST
Yes, I saw that, yeah
DJ FreshHOST
... uh, dispelling the fact that there's no white genocide-
DJ FreshHOST
What, what's at stake?
Botsang Modimowame MoiloaGUEST
But what is at stake? But President Mbeki Foundation issued a statement as well because he came further to say they are recommending that, uh, President Mbeki must be President Ramaphosa's envoy to the US.
Botsang Modimowame MoiloaGUEST
For, for, for goodness sake, uh, President Ramaphosa has just sent, uh, Roelf Meyer, it's not even six months-
DJ FreshHOST
Mm
Asma KhalidHOST
I'm curious if you can tell us a little bit about who he is and how he is trying to navigate this rather tense relationship between the two countries.
Ione WellsGUEST
Rolf Meyer is the new ambassador, uh, in Washington for South Africa, and he's not really just any ambassador.
Ione WellsGUEST
He, he's a really big name in South African politics.
Ione WellsGUEST
He was one of the chief negotiators responsible for negotiating the end of apartheid on behalf of the National Party, the party responsible for apartheid, uh, with his counterpart for the ANC being Cyril Ramaphosa, now president, of course, of the country.
Leon LotzGUEST
Um, I take my hat off for some of those farmers producing food, and we producing enough food in all these circumstances that we can export food.
Leon LotzGUEST
Um, so telling us that we're lying is, uh, [laughs] our own ambassador here in America, Mr. Roelf Meyer says that, uh, he's a white South African, and he will speak on behalf of us.
Leon LotzGUEST
I would like, uh, Mr. Meyer to really talk the truth.
Leon LotzGUEST
He actually needs to be arrested for, um, whatever they've done to humans, even in the National Party.
46 MINS LATER
Leon LotzGUEST
But all of a sudden those death certificates, when it used to say bullet wound or whatever it used to say, it now changed.
Leon LotzGUEST
So I think Ramaphosa is doing the biggest fraud in the world, first of all, with the death certificates.
Leon LotzGUEST
And don't tell me the ambassador here in the US, Mr. Roelf Meyer, doesn't know that because he was part of the government, um, reporting to the president, Mr. FW de Klerk, at that stage.
Leon LotzGUEST
He must have known all this, and he must still know it.
speaker_32NARRATOR
It comes as a result of Donald Trump creating a refugee scheme for white Afrikaners after claiming there is a genocide against them in South Africa.
speaker_32NARRATOR
But South Africa's new ambassador to Washington says there is no genocide against white Afrikaners like himself and is pushing for the scheme to be scrapped.
speaker_32NARRATOR
Our North America correspondent, Ione Wells, sent this report.
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
In St Helena Bay on South Africa's west coast, the houses have an enviable view of long sand beaches, blue skies, a gentle swell of waves.
Larry BartlettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And I think it's probably unlawful.
Rolf MeyerSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
From my perspective...
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
South Africa's new ambassador in Washington, Rolf Meyer, negotiated an end to apartheid on behalf of the party responsible for it.
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
Now he wants to negotiate an end to this scheme.
speaker_5UNKNOWN
It comes as a result of Donald Trump creating a refugee scheme for white Afrikaners after claiming there is a genocide against them in South Africa.
speaker_5UNKNOWN
But South Africa's new ambassador to Washington says there is no genocide against white Afrikaners like himself and is pushing for the scheme to be scrapped.
speaker_5UNKNOWN
Our North America correspondent, Ioan Wells, sent this report.
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
[waves crashing] In St. Helena Bay on South Africa's west coast, the houses have an enviable view of long sand beaches, blue skies, a gentle swell of waves.
Larry BartlettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
It's wrong, uh, and I think it's probably unlawful.
Roelf MeyerSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Uh, from my perspective, uh-
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
South Africa's new ambassador in Washington, Roelf Meyer, negotiated an end to apartheid on behalf of the party responsible for it.
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
Now he wants to negotiate an end to this scheme.
Shaun LeyHOST
That's Eilidh Winstanley-Channer, journalist with the international Catholic weekly, The Tablet.
Shaun LeyHOST
[gentle music] South Africa's new ambassador to Washington is urging Donald Trump to end a refugee scheme for white Afrikaners like himself, who the president says are the victims of genocide.
Shaun LeyHOST
White South Africans now account for almost all of the people granted refugee status by the United States.
Shaun LeyHOST
The State Department says more than seventeen thousand more of them could be admitted to the United States next year.
Larry BartlettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
It's wrong, uh, and I think it's probably unlawful.
Roelf MeyerSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Uh, from my perspective, uh, the situation was a-
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
South Africa's new ambassador in Washington, Roelf Meyer, negotiated an end to apartheid on behalf of the party responsible for it.
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
Now, he wants to negotiate an end to this scheme.
Shaun LeyHOST
[news music] You're listening to News Hour with me, Shaun Ley.
Shaun LeyHOST
South Africa's new ambassador to Washington is urging Donald Trump to end a refugee scheme for white Afrikaners like himself, who the president says are the victims of genocide.
Shaun LeyHOST
White South Africans now account for almost all the people granted refugee status by the United States, and the State Department says more than 17,000 more could be admitted next year.
Shaun LeyHOST
Here's our North America correspondent, Irie Wells.
Larry BartlettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
It frankly would be laughable except for the fact that we are now denying legitimate refugees an opportunity to come to United States, and instead what the Trump administration has chosen to do is to focus on a population of white people who frankly under US law, uh, unlikely qualify for refugee status, and they're taking scarce and precious, uh, places for people who have a real need- uh, to relocate for people who have fled war, for people who have fled ethnic cleansing is wrong, uh, and I think is probably unlawful.
Roelf MeyerSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Uh, from my perspective, uh, it was a-
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
South Africa's new ambassador in Washington, Roelf Meyer, negotiated an end to apartheid on behalf of the party responsible for it.
Ione WellsCORRESPONDENT
Now, he wants to negotiate an end to this scheme.
Colin MorganADVERTISER
The first thing that we want is the war to end.
Ione WellsHOST
For this episode, I speak to Roelf Meyer, South Africa's new ambassador to the United States.
Ione WellsHOST
In the nineteen nineties, he was one of the leading negotiators in the talks that helped bring apartheid to an end.
Ione WellsHOST
Now he takes up his new post amid a serious rupture in relations with Washington.
Roelf MeyerGUEST
I think I have the legitimacy as a born Afrikaner in South Africa.
Roelf MeyerGUEST
I have the legitimacy to speak about the subject very clearly.
Ione WellsHOST
Welcome to The Interview from the BBC World Service with Roelf Meyer.
Roelf MeyerGUEST
I think that at least, uh, from my perspective, uh, the tension has not escalated.