Celebrity commentator, broadcaster, and author Eusebius McKaiser passed away on Tuesday following what his manager Jackie Strydom believes to have been an epileptic episode.
He was reportedly going about his day normally, according to her.
“It all happened so quickly. His partner Nduduzo Nyanda is at the mortuary with his family,” said Strydom.
“I am so distraught. I can’t believe this.”
McKaiser was born in Grahamstown to a low-income household and was a frequent contributor to TimesLIVE. He enrolled at Rhodes University for the first time in 1997 to pursue a BA in law and philosophy. Before he was chosen for a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, he completed a philosophy Master’s degree and an Honours degree, both with distinction.
According to his bio on the Rhodes University website, McKaiser was a political activist and a social and political analyst at the Wits Centre for Ethics where he took part in studies that looked at the interaction between civil society and the state in the realm of policy, particularly in light of the shifting post-Polokwane political landscape.
“As a political activist what matters to him is getting to grips with the social and political topics that impact on our lives, and making people sit up and take notice of this,” the university said.
“His activism is something that defines his life and he writes widely in the local and international press and has a particular interest in questions of identity and their policy implications.
“His media contributions have appeared in the New York Times, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, Sunday Times, Sunday Independent, City Press, Newsweek International, BBC Focus on Africa, The New Republic, Financial Mail, and Destiny Man among others. He has also hosted a weekly politics and morality talk show on Talk Radio 702, the Talk at Nine Show, and he presented on Interface on SABC3.”
The institution said that in his spare time, the former South African national debate champion and 2011 World Masters debate champion worked as a top international debate coach, MC, and public speaker.
Additionally, he taught schoolchildren, college students, and business executives throughout South Africa, Europe, and the Middle East how to communicate effectively, think critically, and develop their public speaking skills.
Before that, he worked as an associate for the renowned McKinsey and Company management consulting firm. He worked in state-owned businesses on projects ranging from organizational and operational efficiency studies to climate change.
He also contributed to the formation of a solid viewpoint on predictions of the worldwide demand for specific commodities. He often briefed corporate clients on political risk assessments of the South African political context, including investment companies.
According to the university, McKaiser was motivated by the community and served as a tangible example of how racism and homophobia might be defeated.
