About this site

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Meyer, Roelf

1947 -

Roelf Meyer was born in Port Elizabeth. He obtained his BCom and LLB degrees from the University of the Orange Free State. He was Minister of Defence and of Constitutional Affairs before and during the South African transition from apartheid to democracy. He was chief negotiator for the National Party government during the negotiations that led to the settlement of the South African conflict. He negotiated the end of apartheid together with Cyril Ramaphosa, who was the ANC's chief negotiator. This led to the first democratic election in South Africa in April 1994 and after the election Meyer continued in the same portfolio of Constitutional Affairs in the Cabinet of former President Nelson Mandela.

Meyer resigned from the National Party in 1997 and joined Bantu Holomisa in forming a new party, the United Democratic Movement. He retired from active politics at the beginning of 2000 and he is currently a business person and active in civil society. He has been involved in the peace processes in a number of countries, including Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Burundi and Kosovo.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.