16 Facts About Roelf Meyer

Roelof Petrus Meyer GCOB was born on 16 July 1947 and is a South African politician and businessman.

Roelf Meyer returned briefly to Parliament between 1999 and 2000 before retiring from frontline politics in January 2000.

Roelf Meyer then practised as a lawyer in Pretoria and Johannesburg until 1980.

In 1988, Roelf Meyer was appointed as Deputy Minister of Constitutional Development.

Roelf Meyer became the chairman of the Beleidsgroep vir Hervorming.

Roelf 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 South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in April 1994, Roelf 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.

In February 1996, Roelf Meyer resigned from the cabinet in order to become secretary-general of the National Party.

In what was viewed as a demotion, Roelf Meyer was instead installed at the head of an internal task team charged with conceptualising the party's political future.

Shortly afterwards, on 17 May 1997, Roelf Meyer announced his resignation from the National Party and therefore from Parliament.

Roelf Meyer resigned his position as provincial leader of the National Party in Gauteng; he was succeeded by Sam de Beer.

The week after he resigned from the NP, Roelf 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.

The United Democratic Movement won fourteen seats in the general election of 1999 and Roelf Meyer returned to the National Assembly.

However, in early 2000, Roelf Meyer announced his retirement from politics, which he said was a personal decision, rather than a political one.

Roelf Meyer 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.

Roelf Meyer has consulted on international peace processes and negotiations, for example in Northern Ireland, Rwanda and Kosovo.