Chief negotiator during apartheid shocked the Anglophone crisis is still unresolved
Roelf Meyer, former South African Minister, Member of Parliament and chief negotiator for the National Party (NP) during the transition from apartheid says he was shocked to learn that the Anglophone crisis is getting worse and entering its 5th year. He was talking with government authorities and consultants during a visit in Cameroon.
“I was shocked when I spoke to several persons and they told me the situation in the North West and South West regions is deteriorating daily and has prolonged for too long. It took us two years of talks with the African National Congress to trash out apartheid for the sake of peace” he said.
The 75-year-old former South African politician made it clear on the Inside, a Sunday televised program on Equinoxe Tv that the Anglophone crisis persists even after a Major National Dialogue because it was probably not genuine and also due to lack of trust between the parties involved in the conflict: government and separatists.
“In South Africa we held persistent talks, dialogues and negotiations with the principal parties. We listened to everyone and treated them with equality. No side, no matter how small was regarded as inferior by the ruling party. Continuous negotiations permitted all to have trust in one another, listen to everyone, understand the problems and reach appropriate solutions” Meyer added.
The man who divorced from politics in the year 2000 stressed that there is nowhere on earth that peace can be achieved without a genuine dialogue and recognition of human rights at all levels. Before Meyer’s resignation, he had served South Africa as Deputy Minister of Law and Order and of Constitutional Development (1986 to 1991) and also as Minister of Defense, of Communication and of Constitutional Affairs (1991-1996).
