The ANC is wrong on Venezuela
South Africa’s government has no right to condemn US foreign policy while it shares a bed with rogue states and true imperialists actively engaged in genocide and conquest.
Once again, at the behest of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) is leading the country further onto the wrong side of history.
On the 3rd of January 2026, the United States (US) successfully managed to fly into Venezuela, neutralise defences, and capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife. The entire operation took around three and a half hours, with no US casualties.
Such a feat truly highlights the divide between the capabilities of every other country and the world’s superpower. No other country is as capable of pulling off such a feat, especially when one considers that US rival Russia is still embroiled in an invasion of Ukraine that was meant to last weeks and has dragged on for years.
There is a lot of debate over the legality of the operation. Some are calling it an act of war, and that US President Donald Trump has violated the US constitution by failing to get congressional approval. The justification by the administration is that Maduro is not a legitimate head of state, and that the operation was a law enforcement one – arresting a “narco-terrorist” who has had a warrant and bounty on his head since 2019.
Maduro is doubtlessly an illegitimate ruler of Venezuela. Maduro barred the leading candidate, Nobel Peace prize winner María Corina Machado, from running against him in the 2024 elections. Yet, Maduro still only received 30.46% of the vote against Edmundo González, who won by a landslide 68.74% of the vote.
Maduro refused to accept the results of the election and clung to power. It is also true that Maduro has used his position and the tools of the state to enable drug traffickers and criminal cartels to flourish.
On top of all of that, Maduro’s regime has continued the despotic socialism of Hugo Chavez, resulting in famines, record hyperinflation, poverty, crime and squalor. Venezuela could have been one of the richest countries in the world, but under Maduro’s communist policies, it has become one of the worst places to live on the planet.
No wonder that most Venezuelans around the world haven’t seen the arrest of Maduro as an invasion of sovereignty, but as a triumph over tyranny. It is delusional to pretend that Maduro was a good leader or even a good man.
Right now, the US has given Venezuela a chance at freedom and prosperity. Trump’s intent doesn’t matter. At least for now. Maduro had to go, and now there is an opportunity or something better.
Preferably, Venezuela needs to be allowed to hold a fresh election, and the US needs to restrict its involvement to ensuring that no warlords, cartels or Maduro loyalists seize the moment to prevent democracy from triumphing.
The aftermath of Maduro’s downfall still needs to be written. But if the reactions of the Venezuelan people are anything to go by, there is a lot of room for optimism.
But, the ANC, DIRCO and the MK and EFF don’t share that optimism. They wasted no time in condemning the US, expressing support for Maduro’s regime, and committing themselves to the Cold War-era rhetoric of opposing US imperialism. This is all the while they are best friends with China, an imperialist state committing genocide against its Uyghur population while occupying Tibet, trade pleasantries and military expertise with Russia, involved in mass kidnapping of children in Ukraine while attempting to annex it, and Iran, which holds onto the world’s largest proxy network of insurgents and terrorists.
South Africa’s government has no right to condemn US foreign policy while it shares a bed with rogue states and true imperialists actively engaged in genocide and conquest.
And the government officials and politicians have no right to not just jeopardise our relationship with the US, but to risk dragging us into a war.
Head of Public Diplomacy Clayson Monyela commented on X that he would “advise Cyril Ramaphosa to bring back nuclear programmes to protect us from the USA bully.” While he backtracked on the comment, the damage is done. A public official has expressed the desire for South Africa to acquire nuclear weapons to use, at least passively, against the world superpower.
Other officials have expressed support for Maduro’s regime and even implied that South Africa would intervene militarily if war broke out.
This rhetoric doesn’t serve the interests of South Africa’s people, or the people of Venezuela. The only thing the ANC, EFF and MK seek to service is the interests of its outdated, morally bankrupt ideology, and the geopolitical interests of terrible allies in Beijing and Tehran.
The ANC’s foreign policy does not reflect the will of the people, or the interests of the country. And it is time that South Africans kick out this dinosaur of a party and elect an administration that will not risk us entering a global war on the wrong side.
Nicholas Woode-Smith is the Managing Editor of the Rational Standard and a senior associate of the Free Market Foundation. He writes in his personal capacity.
You are absolutely correct, Maduro is no sweetheart. But the article just brushed over every problematic aspect of the US operation, including the violations of international law, the US constitution and the extrajudicial killings of people travelling on boats. Yes, you mentioned some of them, but you didn't address any of them. Does the rule of law matter, or does it not? The US operation re-asserted its
"...South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) is leading the country further onto the wrong side of history."
-The question of what is the right side of history is very complex, especially in this case with all sides having questionable motives and not much respect for the law. At minimum we can say the victors will write the accepted version of history and we can't even say who will prevail (between China and America, for example)
"No other country is as capable of pulling off such a feat, especially when one considers that US rival Russia is still embroiled in an invasion of Ukraine that was meant to last weeks and has dragged on for years."
-Very impressive, but the Russian Crimean operation in 2014 was also impressive, yes Russia is struggling in Ukraine, but America also just recently withdrew from Afghanistan and handed over the country to the enemy they've been fighting for 20 years (a technical defeat), I would say the operation is still impressive and shows the unique abilities of the US (they're masters of combined arms warfare) but comparing a full invasion (with the country you're invading receiving weapons, intelligence support, training etc from the richest countries in the world) with a quick operation is not an apples to apples comparison.
"Maduro is doubtlessly an illegitimate ruler of Venezuela. Maduro barred the leading candidate, Nobel Peace prize winner María Corina Machado, from running against him in the 2024 elections. Yet, Maduro still only received 30.46% of the vote against Edmundo González, who won by a landslide 68.74% of the vote."
-Trump himself has ruled out the possibility of the opposition taking power, saying Machado in particular, doesn't enjoy popular support. He could easily demand an election with international observers while keeping the US naval taskforce in place. Yet he seems to prefer working with the regime, now in the form of Delcy Rodriguez. If Maduro is not legitimate, she is not legitimate.
"Right now, the US has given Venezuela a chance at freedom and prosperity. Trump’s intent doesn’t matter. At least for now. Maduro had to go, and now there is an opportunity or something better."
- It's naive to say Trump's intention doesn't matter, he is keeping the US naval taskforce in place to pressure the regime and get outcomes he wants, and the main thing he wants is access to the oil, not freedom and prosperity (if other voices in his administration who want that prevail, great. On the positive side, he has pushed the regime to release political prisoners, but this on its own won't make Venezuela better.
"Preferably, Venezuela needs to be allowed to hold a fresh election, and the US needs to restrict its involvement to ensuring that no warlords, cartels or Maduro loyalists seize the moment to prevent democracy from triumphing."
-This is the one thing the US is not doing.
"South Africa’s government has no right to condemn US foreign policy while it shares a bed with rogue states and true imperialists actively engaged in genocide and conquest."
- This is a fallacy, South Africa's foreign policy doesn't have to be perfect to condemn parts of US foreign policy, that's like saying the US can't condemn South Africa's foreign policy because of the things the US itself has done wrong.
"And the government officials and politicians have no right to not just jeopardise our relationship with the US, but to risk dragging us into a war."
- This is fair, so you agree with me that the balance of power should guide our foreign policy instead of human rights and things of that nature? You seem to be saying here that we should avoid an invasion by one of the major powers even if it means keeping quiet when those countries do something illegal or that violates human rights, I agree.
"Head of Public Diplomacy Clayson Monyela commented on X that he would “advise Cyril Ramaphosa to bring back nuclear programmes to protect us from the USA bully.”"
- Saying it publicly is stupid, but a nuclear deterrent makes all the sense in the world in the unstable environment we seem to be moving into. Luckily we still have the elements required to build such a deterrent in a matter of months, granted this would require violating treaty commitments but it's a nice-to-have. There's a reason North Korea is holding on to its nuclear weapons, they seem to have worked in deterring an invasion (The Chinese support of NK is probably a bigger factor, but the nukes don't hurt).
"The ANC’s foreign policy does not reflect the will of the people, or the interests of the country. And it is time that South Africans kick out this dinosaur of a party and elect an administration that will not risk us entering a global war on the wrong side."
- Most people in South Africa are pro-Beijing and skeptical of US power as the sole superpower right now, they see Beijing as a necessary balance to US power. The wrong side of a war is the losing side (or a side that wins at great cost),we would have to examine the details of each potential war carefully to make a determination, but the likes of Frans Cronje don't seem to think our stances so far put us at risk of invasion/attack, because we are a democracy with the most liberal constitution on this continent, despite our flaws.