GNU parties clash over US intervention in Venezuela
South African political parties are divided about the United States’ (U.S.) recent military action in Venezuela that saw the subsequent capture of President Nicholas Maduro and his wife.
Early on 3 January, U.S. President Donald Trump said that “America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country.”
Within the Government of National Unity itself, there have been conflicting stances on the strike.
The African National Congress (ANC) has publicly condemned the action, with South Africa’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), headed by ANC members, saying that these actions “manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations.”
On the other hand, the leader of the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), Dr Corné Mulder, whose party is party of the GNU, posted to social media platform X that this strong condemnation from DIRCO and the “ANC minister” was expected.
“It will be done in all of our names, but it will not represent our views. The end of the socialist failure in Venezuela should be welcomed,” he said.
Deputy Minister in the Presidency and ANC member Nonceba Mhlauli slammed Mulder’s statement, saying that his party should support the statements of government.
“You are a member of the GNU, and the views presented by DIRCO represent the WHOLE of government. That is what a unitary state means – ONE president, ONE government and ONE line of march,” she said.
However, Mulder said that the “USA did not invade Venezuela.”
“Maduro and his wife were already indicted in 2019 for drug trafficking and money laundering. Maduro and his wife were arrested as fugitives from justice and are now awaiting trial in the USA.”
The Democratic Alliance (DA) did not publicly comment on the incident, other than to say that politicians should refrain from “reckless posturing on social media”, which can only harm South Africa’s interests.
“South Africa’s foreign policy must be genuinely non-aligned and in the national interest, and therefore officials must behave responsibly and credibility,’ said DA national Spokesperson Jan De Villiers.
Opposition parties cry foul
Outside of the GNU, both the uMkhhonto weSizwe party (MK) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) condemned the military action.
The EFF called the intervention the “most blatant act of imperial aggression in the Western Hemisphere in decades.”
This latest action leaves “no room for doubt about the United States’ preferred method of dealing with defiant sovereign leaders” according to the party
The EFF cited a pattern of imperial violence, from the US invasion of Panama in 1989 that saw President Manuel Noriega forcibly removed under the guise of restoring democracy.
The 1961 assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was connected “to the CIA and the Belgian state” the EFF said, because he “refused to surrender Africa’s mineral wealth to imperial control.”
The party further critiqued US intervention in Iraq in 2003, when Saddam Hussein was overthrown and executed “on the fabricated pretext of weapons of mass destruction – weapons that have still not been found to this day,” the EFF said.
“These incidents are a clear pattern of imperial violence against leaders who resist Western domination,” the EFF said.
The party warns that another sovereign nation will be the next victim of the US.
“If the world remains silent, even President Cyril Ramaphosa could one day be targeted on the basis of fabricated narratives, including the dangerous and dishonest propaganda of a so-called ‘white genocide’ in South Africa.”
The MK Party echoed this sentiment, calling the action a “new kind of colonialism.” The MK Party said it rejects the US narrative that the military attack constitutes “law enforcement” or “anti-narcotics operations.”
Instead, it illustrates “with brutal clarity, the true nature of Washington’s foreign policy: militarised coercion in the service of resource control and imperial domination.”
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I wish South Africa should follow after Venezuela to be taken by President Donald Trump administration. We are tied of improper administration where our leaders are rotten from corruption that resulted in poverty and criminality. President Trump should consider his next move about our president and his deputy because they’re not different from Venezuela president – drugs trafficking is happening even here in South Africa. We are tired of corrupt leaders. ANC, EFF and MKP are shaken with fear because they’re not innocent. We are waiting for Donald Trump to rescue us before existing planned coup.