The FF Plus has argued that the ANC cannot claim to speak on behalf of all South Africans on Venezuela or broader foreign policy matters. FF Plus Leader Corné Mulder has welcomed the US action against President Maduro, describing the Venezuelan Government as illegitimate and responsible for widespread human rights abuses.
Mulder has maintained that critics of Washington’s intervention have remained silent for years while Venezuelans endured poverty, repression and a deepening humanitarian crisis. He has also accused the ANC of hypocrisy, pointing to its past handling of international law during the Omar al-Bashir matter and its position on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The FF Plus has further claimed that the decision by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation to raise the Venezuela issue at the UN Security Council was a unilateral ANC move, rather than a position agreed to by the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The ANC has rejected this criticism and strongly condemned the US action, accusing Washington of acting as a self-appointed “policeman of the world”. The party has joined international voices denouncing the attack on Venezuela and the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, arguing that the move constitutes a violation of the UN Charter and international law.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said the struggle against imperialism and injustice remained central to the party’s identity, warning that silence in the face of what the ANC views as aggression would amount to abandoning the fight for justice.
Addressing a media briefing on Tuesday, Mbalula also condemned Mulder’s public remarks praising the US operation. Mulder had taken to social media platform X to welcome news of Maduro’s capture by US special forces and to criticise SA’s opposition to Washington’s actions.
Mbalula said there were “reactionary forces” within the GNU but stressed that the GNU was not a “melting pot” of shared ideology. He insisted that Mulder’s views did not reflect those of what he described as progressive forces in SA, many of whom, both inside and outside the GNU, have condemned developments in Venezuela.
–SABC/ChannelAfrica–
