Ricardo Teixeira
Ricardo Teixeira, who has joined the Daily Friend as Associate Editor, is a journalist, defence analyst, and national security advocate. He champions integrity, competence, and long-term reform in South Africa’s security and defence architecture. With a multidisciplinary background, he combines rigorous research with clear communication to deliver practical, insightful analysis.
Articles By This Author
Will for Peace and the cost of strategic pretence
Exercise Will for Peace was meant to show that South Africa could host a complex naval exercise, engage major powers on its own terms, and
“The only things that matter are friends and weapons”
South Africa likes to present itself as a diplomatic heavyweight: a bridge between North and South, a principled voice in global forums, and a stabilising
How to start fixing SANDF without wasting money
I was inspired by colleague Terence Corrigan’s recent article, If I were king…. It left me considering what I would do if I were unfortunate
The Butterfly will not fly without defence and aerospace
South Africa’s newly unveiled Butterfly strategy aims to reposition the country’s trade posture for a changing global order. Its intent is clear: diversify away from
SA’s defence forces: spending more, delivering less
South Africa’s armed forces remain hamstrung by poor management, slow reform and deteriorating capability, despite spending R51.8 billion in the 2024-25 financial year. The latest
“Tried turning it off and on again?”
Modern war rarely begins with artillery barrages or tanks crossing borders. Increasingly it begins in the shadows, with networks probed for weaknesses and malicious code
An army without a backbone cannot defend a democracy
Bantu Holomisa does not mince words. This much is clear to me when I sit down with the former general and now deputy minister of
How SA risks failing those in peril on the sea
The hijacking of a fishing trawler in the Mozambique Channel in 2011 forced Southern African states to act. The result was Operation Copper, a joint
A troubling pattern emerges
Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga’s responses to recent parliamentary questions on the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) deployment in the Democratic
Lessons for SA in China’s choreography of power
China’s commemoration this week of the 80th anniversary of its victory over Imperial Japan culminated in a vast military parade through Tiananmen Square, overseen by