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