SA political parties divided on US military action in Venezuela

South Africa’s political parties are divided on their positions on the recent US military attack in Venezuela, in which long-serving President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured.

The US carried out “a large-scale strike” against Venezuela on Saturday, 3 January 2026, after months of massive US military build-up off the Latin American nation’s shores and a series of deadly airstrikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels.

Read more: After the Bell: Donald Trump kidnaps the start of the working week

Following the raid, US President Donald Trump said America would “run” Venezuela until a transition of power could take place, but did not indicate when this would be or how it would be done.

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation on Saturday called the attack and Maduro’s capture “a manifest violation” of the United Nations (UN) Charter, and urged the UN Security Council to convene on the matter.

The council debated the implications of the US attack on Monday. South Africa’s Acting Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Jonathan Passmoor, told the Security Council that the US action in Venezuela “wantonly violates the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence” of the Latin American country, reported Daily Maverick’s Peter Fabricius.

Also on Monday, Maduro and Flores appeared in a New York court on several charges related to drug trafficking.

ANC

The ANC, following a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) on Tuesday said it condemned the “acts of aggression” by the US against Venezuela, which “constitute a serious violation of international law, national sovereignty and the principles governing peaceful relations between states”.

ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula told the media that Maduro’s “kidnapping” undermined the UN Charter and threatened global peace and stability.

He said the party called on “peace-loving 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 Maduro.

“Our understanding of what has happened in Venezuela as the ANC can be summed up as nothing else but imperialist aggression, and the United States, and the Trump administration in particular, imposing itself as the world policeman,” said Mbalula.

“To this extent, we have resolved to work with all the progressive forces in our country and mobilise against the American imperialist aggression, including against our own country. Folding arms, looking on, and doing nothing will mean that we have abandoned the cause of fighting for justice.”

Read more: Trump says US will run Venezuela, South Africa calls on UN Security Council to urgently convene

Mbalula acknowledged the “reactionary forces” within the Government of National Unity (GNU) and outside the national coalition – saying the ANC “is not party to them”.

“GNU is not a melting pot. [FF Plus leader] Corné Mulder and what he expresses is not a view that is shared by the progressive forces in South Africa. Even those who are within and outside the GNU have condemned what has happened in Venezuela, and we’ve got a shared perspective and that is why we talk about building a popular front against imperialist aggression,” he said.

DA

The DA declined to speak on the US military action, with its national spokesperson Jan de Villiers saying the party wouldn’t comment on Venezuela, “except to say South Africa needs less crime, less corruption, more jobs and better services. We are [focused on] fixing those issues at home.”

This is despite the party having issued numerous statements on Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as commenting on the conflicts in the Middle East and Sudan.

However, in a statement on Tuesday, 6 January, the DA’s spokesperson on International Relations and Cooperation, Ryan Smith, condemned the Department of International Relations and Cooperation for its “diplomatic hypocrisy” in its appeal to the UN Security Council to convene on the issue of Maduro’s capture by the US, as it had “failed to take a similar stance” on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“This exposes the politically selective and hypocritical means in which the African National Congress (ANC) conducts South Africa’s diplomatic relations on the international stage. Diplomacy cannot be built on contradictions and inconsistencies.

“In the context of the situation in Venezuela, the ANC has again decided to pursue its entrenched party-political interests in our foreign policy by referring the USA to the UN Security Council when no such appeal for intervention was ever made when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and was found guilty of human rights abuses for child trafficking,” said Smith.

EFF

The EFF was particularly scathing. The red berets “unequivocally” condemned the US action and said it amounted to “the most blatant act of imperial aggression in the Western Hemisphere in decades”.

“Let it be clear to the world that this is not a lawful operation under international law, nor is it an act of self-defence. It is a naked exercise of unilateral military power that tramples on the sovereignty of a nation and sets a dangerous and destabilising precedent. If allowed to stand, it signals that any powerful state may invade, bomb, abduct and remove the leadership of sovereign countries without consent, oversight or legitimacy,” the EFF said in a statement.

The EFF said Trump’s “boastful and reckless rhetoric, including his public celebration of the attack and crude references to Venezuela’s natural resources” exposed the “arrogance and impunity” with which the US acts when it believes itself to be above international law.

It added that Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has remained steadfast in defending Venezuela’s “independence, protecting its natural resources, and resisting external attempts” to determine the country’s political future.

Read more: Pouring oil on troubled waters — US capture of Maduro risks exacerbating turmoil in Venezuela

“The EFF reiterates that history has consistently shown that foreign military intervention does not bring democracy or peace. It brings chaos, suffering and prolonged instability, paid for by the working class and the poor. The forcible capture of a sitting head of state by a foreign military power is an unprecedented escalation that threatens the very foundations of international order and collective security,” said the red berets.

The party called on the UN and other countries to condemn “this illegal act” and demand Maduro’s return.

ActionSA

ActionSA said the actions of the US “undermined” the rule of law.

“ActionSA believes that the global order relies on the rule of law. The actions of the US undermine this foundational principle and erode the mutual obligations that every nation must observe and respect, as outlined in the UN Charter,” the party’s national spokesperson, Matthew George, told Daily Maverick.

Read more: Venezuela’s interim president offers US cooperation after Trump says further strike possible

“Acts of aggression pursued under dubious pretexts for the purposes of resource extraction and territorial expansion, irrespective of the perpetrator, set a dangerous precedent in which the rule of law is treated as selective and optional rather than obligatory, which will only serve to fundamentally weaken global stability.”

uMkhonto Wesizwe

The MK party issued a statement condemning the US military action and Maduro’s “abduction and forced removal” from Venezuela, saying these actions “constitute nothing less than a full-scale act of war, an illegal invasion of a sovereign state, and a flagrant violation” of the UN Charter.

“They represent an extreme escalation of long-standing US hostility toward Venezuela and expose, with brutal clarity, the true nature of Washington’s foreign policy: militarised coercion in the service of resource control and imperial domination,” it said.

The party said that the US action in the Latin American nation was a “warning” to all sovereign states, particularly in Africa and Latin America.

“The methods used against Caracas, disinformation campaigns, economic destabilisation, sanctions, diplomatic isolation and ultimately military force are already being rehearsed against African states that resist external control. South Africa itself has been subjected to sustained disinformation, fabricated narratives and foreign-backed destabilisation efforts aimed at undermining its sovereignty and internal cohesion,” it added.

Freedom Front Plus

In a post on X on Saturday, FF Plus leader Corné Mulder welcomed the “end of the socialist failure” in Venezuela, and said that the statement by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, which had not yet been issued, would not represent the party’s views.

In further response to Daily Maverick, Mulder denied that the US had invaded Venezuela and that a regime change had occurred. He said: “The US acted on an indictment against Maduro and his wife. We welcome that.”

“National sovereignty cannot be a shield to hide behind while your regime is busy with human rights violations, narco terrorism, drug trafficking and more.

“The ANC should not now hide behind international law when it was the same ANC that failed to arrest Omar Al Bashir in 2015 when a court ordered them to do so. Under misguided ANC foreign policy SA finds [itself] in the company of Iran, China, North Korea, Hamas and other elements,” added Mulder.

Good

Brett Herron, the Secretary-General of Good, welcomed the Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s condemnation of the US’ “unlawful” military action in Venezuela. Taking Maduro into custody by bombing Venezuela and capturing him in Caracas was an illegal act under international law,” Herron said.

Read more: South Africa’s Maduro dilemma — when principles meet pragmatism

However, he said that the actions of the US “must not be diminished” to a referendum or debate on Maduro’s conduct.

“The tendency to justify the US actions based on feelings about Maduro is dangerous for [the] world order and the concept of international law,” he said.

“The fact that they [America] violated international law so audaciously exposes the international law fault line between power and legality. The act was illegal but international law has no power to be enforced and relies on respect for the conventions and a commitment to a world order. The US acted because they could, because they’re powerful – and Trump said as much when he said, ‘nobody can stop us’.”

“It is just as dangerous for some world leaders to be condoning this capture, even if it is indirectly, by already talking about their desire to see a smooth and just transition of power. The condemnation of the actions of the US should be unequivocal,” said Herron.

Build One SA

Bosa did not condemn the US military intervention, but called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to “consider” the US’ actions in the Latin American nation.

“It’s now vital that multilateral institutions execute their mandates… This is not the time for appeasement. Weak multilateral institutions allow strongman individuals to take advantage.

“Going forward, the international community must ensure free and fair elections are held in Venezuela and a sovereign democratic government is elected that is not beholden to any other country or interests,” said Bosa spokesperson Graham Charters.

Rise Mzansi

Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi, in a video on Saturday, said the US action in Venezuela “must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, because it is unlawful” in terms of international law as well as US domestic law.

“International law, in any event, prohibits one country from attacking another in order to cause regime change… It is very important that we stand together on the basis of international solidarity behind international law and make sure that this action is reversed, because if it is allowed to stand, it portends very poorly for the rest of the world, and global stability,” said Zibi.

Patriotic Alliance

Patriotic Alliance spokesperson Steve Motale 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 re-election as president for a third term was highly questionable. 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,” he told Daily Maverick.

Motale said the party was watching the installation of Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez as acting president “with interest”, and had noted that the country’s constitutional mandate for a new election within 30 days was being “ignored”.

The IFP was also contacted for comment but had not provided a response by the time of publication. DM