I am pleased that I could attend the Cape Town Press Club launch of Ambassador Roelf Meyer’s memoir at Kelvin Grove on Monday 25 October. This is a personal reflection, rather than a report. It was also good to see co-author Annelise Burgess and Michele Meyer there.
I’ll summarise a few of the key points Roelf mentioned as his most important learnings from the change process in which he – and South Africa – had been involved, and are still working on. He said the South African story needed to be shared worldwide, because we had achieved major change with an approach that was untested at that time. An inclusive way was essential because of the many different cultures and interests involved.
Maintain the middle ground, and focus on the centre, to make the transition peaceful.
Build and maintain trust among opposing sides – and also with one’s own people.
Ownership and responsibility on both sides – of the problem, of solutions developed together, and of the results.
Reflect on, and understand, how one’s own transformation happened. In his own case, it just happened – there was no script. But it led to a paradigm shift.
The real moment of change came when we realised that we needed to work on what we wanted from the future – not what we wanted to protect from the past.
Real empathy and the ability to think outside the box – on both sides.
The ability to build relationships between black and white, and to bridge the divide between polarised parts of society.
Value the constitutional democracy that we have established and the supremacy of our Constitutional Court.
After his overview, a tableful of reporters were ready to quiz him, and I enjoyed the way the true diplomat answered openly and wisely, with some humour, focussing on the memoirs and not general current issues. I happened to sit at a table of diplomats from four different countries, and a top German journalist. They said they were very impressed – and you may say, “Diplomats would say so.”
In her introduction, Anneliese said it had been quite a challenge to put together the memoir, as so much had been written about Roelf and about the process, over three decades, from various perspectives. Yet it was exciting to have an opportunity to tell the story together, from a fresh perspective. I’m looking forward to digging into the book – sadly I have not had time in the past week.
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