South Africa has a golden opportunity to reset its global image by returning to its democratic roots as the fountainhead of its diplomacy.

As the people of Venezuela become victims of a patently rigged election and President Nicolás Maduro vowed to "pulverise" the opposition and do whatever it took to defend his "revolution", South Africa should step up and champion electoral democracy by calling on Maduro to accept defeat.

That would require a fresh mindset, one that departs from five disastrous years of pivoting towards autocrats and violent extremists, with grave consequences for South Africa's global image, despite the government's frequent claims of "non-alignment".

advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove adsThe embrace of Russia as it waged its war on Ukraine was the starkest illustration of this authoritarian pivot as South Africa went out of its way to court Russia's President Vladimir Putin, declining to vote against the illegal occupation of Ukraine and engaging in military exercises with Russia, among several prominent gestures.

Spearheaded by the then international relations minister, Naledi Pandor, South Africa hosted the BRICS summit where it aligned itself with Russia's plan to expand BRICS to include Iran and other autocratic nations.

Putin was returned to power in March in a stage-managed procession which did not deserve the description "election", a month after his most popular domestic...