It matters that we keep good relations with US, says Roelf Meyer

Roelf Meyer, current South African Ambassador to the United States, at the Cape Town Press Club on Monday.

South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Roelf Meyer, has pledged to work towards repairing strained relations between the two countries, saying he would act as a messenger to help restore ties at both political and trade levels.

Meyer, who began his ambassadorial role in July, was addressing the Cape Town Press Club yesterday about his recently published book, Roelf Meyer – A Political Memoir.

He steered clear of discussing his current diplomatic role in detail and declined to answer questions about his work. However, when asked about his experience as a negotiator during South Africa’s transition to democracy and whether relations between the two countries could be salvaged, he joked: “You are touching on the sensitive nerves.”

Meyer said maintaining good relations with the US was important, given that it was the world’s largest economy.

“In every respect, in every part of my knowledge about the United States, it matters that we keep good relations. There is at the moment, unfortunately, a tension, the relationship is strained, everybody knows it, and we have to work and find ways to get out of this,” he said.

He said he did not intend to apportion blame, but viewed restoring the relationship as his responsibility.

“I’m not going to put blame anywhere. It’s not necessary. I have a job to do, and that is to make sure that we restore the relationship in the best possible way and as quickly as we can.”

Meyer said relations between the two countries had both political and trade dimensions, pointing to the presence of more than 600 US companies doing business in South Africa.

“Fortunately, trade relations [were] going on mostly as more than 600 US companies are doing business in South Africa to our benefit, because they provide jobs,” he said.

He added that the South African team in Washington understood that its work should ultimately contribute to job creation at home.

“We have to improve the relations at trade level; it is necessary, but also at a political level. We can’t go on like this, and whether there’s persuasion necessary on the US side or on the South African side, I will be the messenger to try and make it happen,” he said.

Meyer also confirmed that, although the US government had barred South Africa from participating in the G20 this year, the country had been invited to attend the B20 US Summit, the business component of the G20 organised by the business sector.

“That is going ahead … we have been invited to be there, but it’s organised by business. So, we will have business representatives at the B20, and as an embassy, we will participate in the B20,” he said.

Meyer acknowledged that South Africa could find itself caught up in political disputes serving the interests of others, but said the country’s national interests should remain the priority.

“We must put that first in all our deliberations and in what we are trying to convey,” he said.

He added that South Africa was not the only country experiencing strained relations with the US, citing a lengthy conversation with his Canadian counterpart in Washington.

“I had a long conversation with my Canadian colleague in Washington, and you can imagine what that conversation delivered. It’s not South Africa alone. We might experience special treatment in a certain way, but we are not the only one that falls into that category of what you refer to as a political football,” he said.

Turning to white Afrikaners who travel to the US to share their accounts of South Africa, Meyer recalled the transition to democracy and the referendum called by former president FW de Klerk on whether the country should pursue change.

He said 70% of white voters had supported change, while the remaining 30% had voted against it.

Meyer said those who had voted against change, as well as their next generation, remained in South Africa, although they represented a small minority of the country’s total population.

“It’s sad, but that is what we have to keep in mind. Today, in terms of the total proportion, it’s a small minority out of the whole, but they’re entitled to their views,” he said.

“We can keep on trying to persuade them differently, and I think that is what we should do.”