The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States (US) in an overnight operation on Friday last week set off a wave of official reactions worldwide and put Pretoria’s own messaging under immediate pressure.

Within hours, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO) issued a formal statement saying it noted “with grave concern” that the US had confirmed it had conducted “a large-scale military strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been captured along with his wife and flown out of the country”. DIRCO said the action was “a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations” and called on the body’s Security Council to “urgently convene to address this situation”.

Later that same day, Clayson Monyela, DIRCO’s head of public diplomacy, posted a reply on X. Responding to a user who urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to bring back nuclear programmes to deter what the user called the “USA bully”, Monyela wrote, “I find no fault in your proposal.”

Shortly afterwards, Monyela posted a retraction, writing, “I have deleted this comment. Poorly framed. I have no issues in apologising for it. SA remains committed to nuclear free world (Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or TPMW) except for scientific, medical, and energy use, etc. That remains the policy position of government.”