Lessons from South Africa

The web site AllAfrica has published an article about Roelf Meyer and his important roll as a consultant in different conflicts around the world.

Here you have the article, I took the liberty of highlighting the parts that the Spanish political elite should take into consideration.

South Africa: Veteran Negotiator Meyer Spreads Talks Know-How

Business Day (Johannesburg)

16 October 2007
Posted to the web 16 October 2007

Sibongakonke Shoba
Johannesburg

THE transition period in the country was not complete and SA still had a lot to learn from other countries in its transformation process, says former National Party (NP) chief negotiator Roelf Meyer .

Meyer, who is now in demand as a facilitator in conflict-ridden countries , was the NP's leader in talks with the African National Congress (ANC) that resulted in SA's first democratic elections in 1994.

The most recent request has been for him to facilitate talks between Basque separatist groups and the Spanish government over the next 10 months, which he will co-chair with South African human rights lawyer Brian Currin.

He has also been involved in peace talks in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Burundi, Kosovo, Bolivia and Iraq.

He said SA could learn a lot from other countries such as Kosovo on "how to bring different communities together, even the lesser developed part of the community".

Meyer told Business Day yesterday that the socioeconomic transformation of SA was not complete. "We need to remind ourselves that we are still in the process of transformation," he said.

The socioeconomic transformation in SA would take "quite a lot of time", he said.

Meyer played a key role alongside ANC chief negotiator Cyril Ramaphosa in negotiating a settlement between the NP and the ANC .

He said that from his South African experience, a country in conflict should take ownership of the conflict and accept responsibility to resolve it.

"A country needs to be inclusive in finding a resolution. All relevant parties need to be involved."

He said the different groups needed to develop trust and respect for each other for negotiations to be successful.

Meyer said people also needed to be prepared to give up power when the time arrived as many conflicts "arise from the question of power".

He said that in his experience, conflicts all over the world were fuelled by ethnic and religious intolerance and the fight for power.

Meyer said SA's mistake was to start its peace talks late. "We should have started the process in 1985 instead of 1990. That period between 1985 and 1990 was the saddest period in the apartheid era.

"It was the worst part of apartheid and there was more violence and killings."

Meyer is now an ANC member. He also has businesses involved in facilitating black economic empowerment deals and strategic management consultation.

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