Parliament - President Cyril Ramaphosa needs to tell South Africans how he will "reshape the country" following the last ten years of turbulence, Roelf Meyer, a former apartheid minister who co-led the talks to usher in democratic rule, said on Thursday.
Meyer was among the guests invited to Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address in Parliament.
He told media that while the country experienced some rocky patches, Ramaphosa needed the support of South Africa to turn the tide.
"We've gone through some turbulence but we've also gone through some good times and all in all that is what democracy is all about," said Meyer.
"There's a lot of expectation, including from myself, to say the next five years are going to be critical for all of us as South Africans, so if President Ramaphosa and his team can lead us through this in a way that we can reshape the country towards a much better situation we are coming from in the last ten years, then I think it would be the right tone and as far as I'm concerned he needs all the support that South Africans can give him."
Meyer and Ramaphosa were the chief negotiators for the old National Party and African National Congress, respectively, to lead the talks that would eventually end apartheid rule.
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