SA's Venezuela stance divides GNU parties

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s opposition to the US military operation against deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has led to divisions within his national unity government.

The USs' strike on Caracas and capture of Maduro Saturday stunned the world, drawing praise and condemnation from Washington allies and foes alike.

Parties within South Africa's unity government reacted differently, some accusing Ramaphosa's ANC of presenting its strong condemnation as the national response.

South Africa is itself under pressure from the Trump administration over a range of policy differences, with relations plummeting last year and Pretoria seeking to avoid US trade tariffs of 30 percent.

Washington boycotted the G20 summit in South Africa in November and has barred Pretoria's participation under its own presidency of the group of leading economies.

Speaking in front of a Venezuelan flag during Joe Slovo’s commemoration, Ramaphosa said South Africa was concerned by the US aggression and demanded the release of the deposed leader and his wife.

"We reject utterly the actions that the United States has embarked upon and stand with the people of Venezuela," Ramaphosa said, urging "decisive action" from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The ANC called on "progressive forces" to "mobilise against the American imperialist aggression".

However, the DA accused the ANC of inconsistency and hypocrisy for failing to take a similar stance on Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

It said a foreign ministry statement critical of the US action showed the department had been "politicised to pursue party political interests instead of pursuing foreign policy in the national interest".

The Freedom-Front Plus also criticised the foreign ministry's statement as "unilateral ANC action".

It welcomed the toppling of Maduro, calling it "the end of the socialist failure".

“The ANC is now conveniently grasping at international law to act against the US, while it itself failed in 2015 to comply with the same international law by executing a court order regarding the arrest of Omar Al Bashir. This is dishonest. The ANC was also silent about Ukraine's sovereignty when Russia attacked that country in 2022 and occupied large parts of Ukraine's territory,” said FF+ leader Corné Mulder.

William Gumede, professor of public management at the University of Witwatersrand, said the ANC was misreading Trump and its leaders risked sanctions from Washington.

"We are now in a period of might is right. The countries most powerful, can essentially do what they want to do. If Trump now turns against South Africa, it will crash South Africa's economy," he said, urging the country to be more strategic about its relations with Washington.

Cape Times