Tobie Meyer Explained

Party:National Party
Office1:Member of the National Assembly
Termstart1:9 May 1994
Termend1:1996
Citizenship:South Africa
Birth Name:Anthon Tobias Meyer
Office:Deputy Minister of Land Affairs
Office2:Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs
Minister:Derek Hanekom
President:Nelson Mandela
President2:F. W. de Klerk
Termstart:11 May 1994
Termend:1996
Termend2:1994
Termstart2:1991
Minister2:Kraai van Niekerk
Office3:Member of the House of Assembly
Constituency Am3:Cradock
Termstart3:1987
Termend3:1994
Relations:Roelf Meyer (brother)

Anthon Tobias "Tobie" Meyer is a South African politician who was Deputy Minister of Land Affairs from 1991 to 1996. He represented the National Party (NP) in Parliament from 1987 until 1996, when he resigned from politics to concentrate on his commercial farming interests.

Apartheid-era career

The elder brother of prominent NP politician Roelf Meyer,[1] Meyer rose to prominence as secretary and then chairperson of the NP's branch in Cradock in the Cape Province, an area that became famous in 1985 for the deaths of the Cradock Four.[2] He was also a director at Volkskas Bank and a member of the control board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, and since 1956 he had managed farming interests in Ficksburg, Humansdorp, and Tsitsikamma.

In the 1987 general election, he was elected to represent the NP in the all-white House of Assembly as MP for Cradock.[3] In addition, in March 1991, President F. W. de Klerk appointed him as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, a newly created position in which he deputised Kraai van Niekerk.[4] Responsibility for land affairs was added to his portfolio later in 1991.

Post-apartheid career

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Meyer was elected to continue in Parliament, now in the multi-racial National Assembly.[5] President Nelson Mandela also retained him as a deputy minister in the new Government of National Unity, appointing him as Deputy Minister of Land Affairs.[6] In early 1996, Meyer announced that he was resigning from politics in order to manage his farming business full time.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kanyane . Chris . 8 April 2015 . Roelf Meyer: Man of Ideas . 2023-05-29 . News24 . en-US.
  2. May 1994 . No surprises in ministerial appointments . AFRA News . 8–10 . 29 May 2023.
  3. Web site: 1989-09-21 . The shadow of Goniwe in the era of De Klerk . 2023-05-29 . The Mail & Guardian . en-ZA.
  4. Web site: 14 March 1991 . De Klerk reshuffles Cabinet to promote land reform . 2023-05-29 . UPI . en.
  5. Web site: 24 May 1994 . Minutes of proceedings of the Constitutional Assembly . 2 April 2023 . Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
  6. Web site: 11 May 1994 . Glance At Mandela's Cabinet With AM-South Africa . 2023-05-29 . AP News . en.
  7. Web site: 1996-03-08 . MPs plan a mass exodus . 2023-05-29 . The Mail & Guardian . en-ZA.