South Africa’s new US Ambassador said BEE and land reform have failed and only benefited the black elite

Roelf Meyer, South Africa’s new Ambassador to the United States, said that black economic empowerment is based on the wrong policies.

Meyer is a South African politician and businessman who served as a Member of Parliament for the National Party between 1979 and 1997.

He served in the governments of three successive presidents, PW Botha, FW de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela.

He was the Minister of Defence, Minister of Constitutional Affairs, and Minister of Communication under De Klerk’s Presidency.

He was also the chief negotiator for the National Party government during the negotiations to end apartheid.

He then served as Minister of Constitutional Development and Provincial Affairs in Mandela’s cabinet from 1994 to 1996.

Meyer resigned from the National Party in 1997 to co-found the United Democratic Movement (UDM) with Bantu Holomisa.

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

In August 2006, Meyer officially applied for ANC membership. He stated that he had voted for the party in 2004 and felt politically homeless after leaving the UDM.

After leaving politics, Meyer pursued his business interests, focusing on the timber industry and consultancy.

On 15 April 2026, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Roelf Meyer as South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States.

The appointment is being viewed as a high-stakes recalibration of the relationship between Pretoria and Washington, which has been severely strained.

Land reform and BEE have failed, said Meyer

Meyer told Jody Hendricks in a 2024 interview that South Africa’s land reform and black economic empowerment policies have failed.

During the negotiations, the parties laid down instructions in the Constitution that there shall be land reform, black economic empowerment, and affirmative action.

“In a country like South Africa, where apartheid prevailed for centuries, there had to be redress in a democratic dispensation,” he said.

“So, the Constitution is, let’s say, prescriptive about that, but the manner in which it had to be carried out depended on the elected government.”

He explained that the Constitution is, under no circumstances, definitive regarding how it is done. “The how had to be worked out by the elected ruling party,” he said.

Meyer said South Africa has failed to achieve its goals in both land reform and black economic empowerment.

“There was an expectation that land redistribution would take place in a certain way. The state made resources available, but it was not implemented,” he said.

He added that when it comes to black economic empowerment, the wrong policies are being followed.

These wrong policies have resulted in the politically connected elite being privileged while the masses were not.

“We need a total rethink and reassessment of the whole issue of economic empowerment,” Meyer said in the interview.

“This is needed to ensure that what was intended in the Constitution, to benefit everyone who suffered under apartheid, happens.”

He is confident that this can be achieved through policy changes. “The sooner we adjust the policy accordingly, the better,” he said.