The African National Congress cannot speak on behalf of South Africa regarding the events in Venezuela or its foreign policy. The Freedom Front Plus (VF 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 (US) against the illegitimate regime of Nicolás 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.

The Irish philosopher and politician Edmund Burke rightly said that evil triumphs when good people do nothing to stop it.

While the US actions are now being condemned from various quarters – especially from South Africa – it can rightly be asked why these critics remained silent for years while the people of Venezuela suffered under an illegitimate head of state and a regime without recognition.

Maduro's government was fundamentally illegitimate and corrupt. After losing the 2024 election, he clung to power with the help of his armed forces, Cuban intelligence, and allies such as Russia, Iran, China, and even North Korea.

These ties transformed Venezuela into a hub for international crime: Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been internationally indicted for large-scale drug trafficking through cocaine networks, arms trafficking with terrorist groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and even links to Hezbollah and Iranian militias.

His government drove millions of Venezuelans into poverty with hyperinflation, food shortages, and a refugee crisis that uprooted more than 7 million people. Human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch cite torture, unlawful executions, and the suppression of opposition as violations under Maduro.

Maduro was not a legitimate president, but a dictator whose rule was denied by more than 60 countries. He plundered Venezuela's oil wealth for the benefit of foreign creditors such as China, while immersing the people of Venezuela in poverty.

The US action was not an invasion or regime change, but a targeted intervention based on international indictments against Maduro.

It was necessary to dismantle a regime that not only terrorised its own people but also posed a threat to the region and the world. National sovereignty cannot be a shield for such atrocities – that would be a licence for tyranny.

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.

The Department of International Relations and Co-operation’s request to refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council was not a joint decision of the Government of National Unity (GNU), but unilateral ANC action presented as "South Africa's" position.

The ANC's Nomvula Mokonyane even dismissed the Freedom Front Plus’s view on the matter, as a government partner, as "poorly informed" and "minimalistic".

It is this ideological blindness of the ANC that places it in the company of countries with proven human rights violators such as Iran, China, North Korea, and terrorist groups such as Hamas, with which the Freedom Front Plus cannot associate itself.

No one should be safe when they violate the civil liberties or property rights of their own people as part of an institutionalised system of government.

If no one stands up against countries where clear human rights violations occur, no one can expect to be helped later when they themselves become victims of it. Evil indeed triumphs when good people do nothing to stop it.

Mulder is the leader of the Freedom Front Plus.