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.

Photo by aboodi vesakaran on Unsplash

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.