Snyman was educated at Pretoria Boys' High School, going on to obtain a Licentiate in Theology through the Church of the Province of Southern Africa.
His first posting, in 1957, was as an assistant curate at St Saviour's Anglican Church in East London, South Africa, going on to serve in a similar capacity at Grahamstown Cathedral in 1960.
In February 1978 Snyman made controversial remarks concerning Bishop Tutu just prior to his taking up his position as General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches.
He was also Priest in Charge to the small parish of St Hubert's Hartswater, and served as a chaplain to the South African Defence Force,[1] at a time when sizable groups of conscripted soldiers would attend services at the Cathedral weekly .
Upon his retirement from his post as Dean of Kimberley in 1991, Snyman went to Port Elizabeth as Vice-Provost and Rector at the Collegiate Church of St Mary the Virgin.
[4] Fr Roy Snyman has for long been a member of the Third Order of the Society of St Francis and served as guardian to its Africa South Region from 1995.
[1] On 7 December 2008 the golden jubilee of the ordained ministry of Fr Roy Snyman was celebrated in a service in the Cathedral in Port Elizabeth.
The Revd Fr Ruthell Johnson of St Paul’s, Parsons Hill, Port Elizabeth, has recalled: "I remember the provincial synod in Swaziland at which the final decision on the ordination of women was made.