Why the ANC repeatedly chooses to stand on the side of the world’s ugliest dictators is anyone’s guess. It could be simple naivety, along with the nostalgic view that so-called revolutionaries are always good, writes Howard Feldman.

Every now and then the ANC reminds us who they are.

Yesterday was one of those days. In a string of perplexing and bizarre tweets, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared his friendship and affection to two of the worlds active and horrendous human rights abusers.

Worse than his need to declare his love for President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, was that he didn’t limit his conversation to the offer of support around Covid-19.

That might still have been reasonable, even though the suffering of the people of both countries lies at the hands of these dictators.

But he chose to go further and to weigh in on the sanctions debate, making it clear which side he stands on.

Why else would the President of South Africa, who is seeing unprecedented support for himself and his party, choose this moment to remind us about their ambiguous international policy?

Why would he refer to Maduro as “My brother,” when what it would mean that he chooses to stand by while his “Nieces and nephews” are eating their pets to stave off their hunger?

Why would he choose to publicly support Rouhani who unashamedly hangs gay people from cranes in public and who subjects the women of that country to constant and unrelenting abuse?

What is all the more perplexing is that he chose to tweet his love for these dictators in the same week that the questions around the arrival of the Cuban doctors began to surface.

The controversy around the fact that this publicity stunt will cost South Africa more than R400m, if reports are to be believed, and that the doctors, who speak no local language, will be deployed to areas where this will greatly impede their work.

All this aside, from the fact that the people of Cuba enjoy very little in the way of freedom and hover hopelessly on the brink of starvation and poverty because of the dictatorship in which they live.

It’s not the first time that the ANC have chosen to support their friends to the detriment of the people they represent.

Their policy towards the citizens of Zimbabwe will forever remain a stain on the consciousness of the party.

The quiet diplomacy of Mbeki followed by all other South African leaders reflected a ruthless disregard to the suffering of our neighbors, and insured that Mugabe was able to live out his life free of the worry of consequence.

Because if any country could have forced change in Zimbabwe, it was South Africa. And they chose to do nothing. Worse, they chose to support Mugabe.

Just as they did Omar al-Bashir, who was responsible for the deaths of 300 000 Sudanese, and who South Africa spirited out of the country, fully aware of the ICC warrant of arrest that compelled them to detain him.

Why the ANC repeatedly chooses to stand on the side of the world’s ugliest dictators is anyone’s guess.

It could be simple naivety, along with the nostalgic view that so-called revolutionaries are always good.

It could be that the movement is anachronistic and has failed to transition from a liberation movement into a ruling party.

Or it could be that they genuinely don’t care about the suffering of the people of Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Zimbabwe or Sudan.

Perhaps another option is that the President doesn’t write his own tweets and that whoever does, is not happy with the success and the popularity that he is seeing.

With South Africans largely supportive of the work that he is doing around Covid-19, his previously precarious control over the party has now been strengthened.

Through his approach to Covid-19 he has shown leadership and has attained a groundswell of support that he hasn’t enjoyed until now.

But following the messages to his "Brother" it wouldn’t be a bad idea, to give those nieces and nephews a call.

- Howard Feldman is a keynote speaker and analyst. He is the author of three books and is the morning talk show host on ChaiFM.

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News24.com | OPINION: President\'s affection for Maduro\, Rouhani perplexing

OPINION: President's affection for Maduro, Rouhani perplexing