0:02 The parties in the GNU are in an all-out
0:05 battle over the foreign policy of the
0:08 country. This comes after the US action
0:18 So, the GNU partners have been at odds
0:21 with each other intensely in recent
0:23 times, particularly regarding foreign
0:26 policy issues, and now is no different.
0:29 You see, after the US captured Nicholas
0:32 Maduro in Venezuela,
0:33 pretty much all the major political
0:36 parties in South Africa had something to
0:38 say. And what was most notable about
0:41 this is the fact that the main partners
0:44 of the GNU are at each other's throats
0:47 yet again. This time, seemingly more
0:51 intensely than was the case before. So,
0:53 before we get into this and all of the
0:55 reactions from the main partners, I'd
0:56 like to remind you all to please
0:59 subscribe to the channel. It's entirely
1:01 free and all you have to do is click on
1:03 the subscribe button below. If you would
1:05 like to enjoy some additional perks,
1:08 consider becoming a power club member.
1:10 All you have to do is click on the join
1:13 button below this video. Now, let's get
1:16 into it. So Durko uh South African's
1:19 foreign policy department issued a very
1:21 strong condemnation of the US action.
1:24 However, it is known that Durko is
1:27 controlled solely by the ANC. Still,
1:30 this didn't stop the party from
1:33 releasing a press release internally of
1:36 its own. So, as explained here, the ANC
1:38 condemns US imperialist aggression
1:40 against the Bolivarian Republic of
1:43 Venezuela. It's amazing how the ANC
1:45 loves to use their buzzwords. If it's
1:49 not racism, if it's not a partate, it's imperialism.
1:50 imperialism.
1:53 So, going on, we see the ANC condemns
1:55 the recent acts of aggression directed
1:57 at Venezuela, which constitutes a
2:00 serious violation of international law,
2:02 national sovereignty, and the principles
2:04 governing peaceful relations between
2:06 states. It's interesting to hear them
2:08 talk about violations of international
2:10 law, but what I'd actually like to ask
2:12 the ANC is what laws are you actually
2:14 talking about? Please, can you list for
2:17 me what international laws, so to speak,
2:19 have been broken? Because every single
2:20 time you release a statement, you talk
2:23 about how it violates international law,
2:25 yet you don't actually explain what law
2:28 it's violating. So, please, for the
2:30 first time in your lives, give us the
2:33 details. Moving on, it explains that the
2:36 kidnapping of comrade, I love how they
2:38 call him comrade, President Nicholas
2:41 Maduro, his wife, comrade, again,
2:44 Cecilia Flores, and son Nicholas Ernesto
2:47 Maduro, who apparently isn't a comrade,
2:49 undermines the United Nations Charter
2:51 and threatens global peace and stability
2:53 at a time when the world requires
2:57 cooperation, restraint, and dialogue. So
2:59 in addition to expressing its
3:02 solidarity, the ANC makes a pretty
3:05 interesting call further down and it
3:08 explains here the ANC further calls on
3:10 peaceloving people in our country across
3:12 the continent and around the world
3:14 including within the United States to
3:16 call for the immediate and unconditional
3:19 release of President Maduro. The world
3:21 must reject all actions that undermine
3:24 democracy, international law and human
3:27 dignity. The devastating humanitarian
3:29 consequences of war, sanctions, and
3:32 economic coercion must remain central to
3:35 the conscience of the global community.
3:37 Now, of course, economic coercion is not
3:39 something that the ANC can really speak
3:43 on, particularly since Durko decided to
3:45 not only condemn the United States, but
3:47 call for a UN Security Council meeting
3:50 on the matter. And so in the most
3:53 explicit terms, the ANC has made the
3:56 United States into enemy number one, at
4:00 least for the party. The DA, however,
4:02 had a little bit more of a nuanced
4:05 approach to the situation. In their own
4:08 press release on their website, the DA
4:12 decided to slam Durko, or the ANC
4:14 rather, for what it calls diplomatic
4:16 hypocrisy. And here's what they
4:20 explained. So Durko's appeal to the UN
4:23 Security Council to urgently convene to
4:24 discuss the capture and prosecution of
4:27 Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro by
4:29 the US smacks of hypocrisy and
4:32 contradiction as Durko failed to take a
4:34 similar stance on the Russian invasion
4:37 of Ukraine. This exposes the politically
4:39 selective and hypocritical means in
4:42 which the ANC conducts South Africa's
4:43 diplomatic relations on the
4:45 international stage. And so this is
4:47 interesting because right here we see
4:50 how the DA has indirectly suggested that
4:52 Durko is indeed the ANC and that other
4:55 parties in the GNU really don't have a
4:58 say on foreign relations. Furthermore,
5:00 it is actually a pretty relevant point.
5:03 Now going further down, we see that the
5:05 DA does not actually speak about the US
5:08 Venezuela issue directly. And we know
5:10 that the DA is pretty risk averse. They
5:12 don't want to appear controversial. So
5:14 they've avoided either supporting or
5:17 condemning the US. Still they make a
5:19 very interesting point and a valid point
5:22 at that which is that the ANC seems to
5:24 be serving its own self-interests
5:27 and this contradictory kind of action
5:30 proves it. We've seen how they've
5:32 gravitated towards the global south
5:35 while rejecting the West and this is
5:38 very clear in their response.
5:40 But another party really seems to have
5:44 taken a very supportive stance towards
5:46 the US action. The party I'm speaking
5:49 about is the Freedom Front Plus. And
5:51 here in a press release they explained
5:53 the ANC cannot speak on behalf of South
5:55 Africa regarding Venezuela. So as is
5:57 written here, the ANC cannot speak on
5:59 behalf of South Africa regarding the
6:00 events in Venezuela or its foreign
6:03 policy. The FF plus has repeatedly
6:06 pointed out that the ANC's ideologically
6:08 driven anti-western policy does not
6:10 reflect the sentiments of all South
6:12 Africans. The Freedom Front Plus
6:14 welcomes the actions of the United
6:17 States against the illegitimate regime
6:19 of Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela. The
6:21 free world is under a moral obligation
6:24 to act against countries with autocratic
6:26 governments where human rights are
6:29 trampled and criminality cannot be
6:33 separated from policy. And so this is a
6:35 very strong stance from the Freedom
6:37 Front Plus. And on the other end of the
6:40 aisle, we see how another GNU partner
6:44 has taken the extreme opposite response.
6:48 So here we see an expost from Sunzibi
6:51 who is the head of Ryzen Zansi which is
6:55 a small party albeit a member of the GNU
6:58 and he stated US action in Venezuela is
7:01 criminal and has echoes of 1930s Europe
7:03 as Hitler went on a rampage and plunged
7:05 the world into World War II. There's
7:07 absolutely no justification for this
7:09 action. It's unlawful in international
7:12 and US domestic law. Again, I ask you,
7:14 you keep talking about how things are
7:16 unlawful, but point to which laws it's
7:19 actually violating. You know, if you can
7:22 point to those laws, fine, we can accept
7:24 it. But it's just amazes me how these
7:26 political parties in all their press
7:29 releases talk about violations of law.
7:31 Yet, they never provide details and
7:35 actually evidence of their accusations.
7:37 And for whatever reason, people just
7:40 seem to take it as is, take it at face
7:43 value and say, "Okay." Furthermore,
7:46 comparing the US to Hitler is a really
7:48 distasteful thing and quite unacceptable
7:51 thing to do. And it really is an insult
7:54 to the people who survived World War II
7:57 and the Holocaust as well as those who
8:00 of course perished and their families.
8:03 So yes, a very distasteful post from
8:06 Zibi. Still, there were other members of
8:09 the GNU who produced, let's call it, a
8:12 more nuanced approach. So, the Patriotic
8:15 Alliance didn't actually release any
8:16 sort of press statement on their
8:19 website. However, they did speak to the
8:21 Daily Maverick, specifically the
8:24 Patriotic Alliance spokesman, Steve
8:27 Mortal. So, Mortal said the US action in
8:30 Venezuela was an example of power making
8:32 its own rules. We hear so many people
8:34 talking about how Maduro was mistreated
8:37 as a head of state, but it's also quite
8:39 overwhelmingly clear that his reelection
8:41 as president for a third term was highly
8:44 questionable. And here he's referring to
8:46 the election results having been rigged,
8:50 which many NOS's and external government
8:52 organizations seem to have found to be
8:55 the case. The US isn't applying the same
8:57 standards to all countries, of course,
8:59 and it never has. It also never will
9:01 because this was simply a geopolitical
9:03 power play from the world's most
9:05 powerful military to strengthen its
9:07 economic interests, particularly as
9:10 Venezuela has the world's greatest oil
9:12 reserves. Mortalia said the party was
9:14 watching the installation of Venezuelan
9:17 vice president Delci Rodriguez as acting
9:20 president with interest and had noted
9:22 that the country's constitutional
9:25 mandate for new election within 30 days
9:28 was being ignored. So, a very
9:30 interesting response from the Patriotic
9:31 Alliance and yet again, they actually
9:34 show how they are a party that really
9:36 understands power very well. We've seen
9:39 how well they understand power in their
9:42 electioneering and governance in this
9:45 local South African political landscape,
9:47 but we've also seen how they have this
9:49 understanding when it comes to
9:51 international geopolitics. And so, it's
9:53 a very nuanced approach. On one hand,
9:56 they refused to straight up condemn the
9:58 US, but they did acknowledge that this
9:59 was a power play. On the other hand,
10:02 however, they acknowledged that Maduro's
10:04 reign is problematic and that he most
10:07 likely was not democratically elected
10:09 for a third term. And so, this is
10:11 probably, as I explained, the most
10:13 nuanced approach from any political
10:17 party within the GNU. But of course,
10:20 this once again shows how the GNU is
10:23 exceptionally fractured. The DA, Freedom
10:25 Front Plus, and even to an extent the
10:28 Patriotic Alliance have taken issue to a
10:30 large extent with the ANC's foreign
10:32 policy, whereas smaller parties like
10:35 Rise and Zansi really seem to be ANC
10:39 puppets in many regards. Furthermore,
10:41 we've also seen how regardless of these
10:43 scuffles, the ANC just seems to brush
10:46 its partners aside and do whatever it
10:48 wants, advancing its own internal
10:52 agenda. It really in many respects feels
10:54 as if the ANC still thinks that it is
10:58 the majority party with over 50% support
11:01 and is acting as such. To date, even
11:03 with the clearing house mechanism within
11:05 the GNU being implemented, we really
11:07 don't see any material changes on the
11:09 ground. And it will be interesting to
11:14 see if and when any GNU partners may be
11:18 able to change this unilateral course of
11:21 action by the ANC because in recent
11:23 times it really doesn't seem to be the
11:27 case. Still, this sort of behavior could
11:30 have election repercussions, and with
11:32 the local elections coming up later this
11:36 year or early 2027, it will certainly be
11:38 interesting to watch. Thank you very
11:40 much for tuning into this video. If you
11:42 enjoyed it, please remember to subscribe
11:45 to the channel for more content. Until
11:49 next time, I'm Matthew Cohen and this is
