UNAPOLOGETICALLY HIMSELF

Eusebius McKaiser's family and friends remember the outspoken media personality

- SIPHOKAZI ZAMA, MELON RADEBE

TO THE outside world he was a leading intellectual, an outspoken analyst, a fearless commentator on everything from race and identity to sexual violence and politics.

His opinions on many issues were sought by people around the globe and he always said what he thought, no matter how controversial or unpopular his views might be.

He thought deeply about things and encouraged others to do so too – yet to Eusebius McKaiser’s family, he was so much more than an insightful commentator and a leading mind of his generation.

To his dad, Donald, he was “Oubaas”.

“He was the crown jewel of our clan,” his grief-stricken cousin, Rurik McKaiser (54), says. “We communicated pretty much daily – not telephonically, but on his social media platforms, whether it was a thumbs-up or a chuckle, a smiley face or a quick voice note around something he said on his podcast.

“I was saying to Vera, my wife, that I’ve been taking Eusebius for granted and then suddenly I don’t have him on my feed anymore.”

The sudden death on 30 May of the 44-year-old media personality and author shocked the country. The cause of his death is believed to have been an epileptic seizure, suffered in a Johannesburg restaurant.

Not many people knew he had epilepsy, Rurik believes. “He was in a space of ‘I have this condition, it’s private. I’m taking chronic medication for it and it is what it is.”

Eusebius was diagnosed in the mid2000s after he’d had a massive seizure in his sleep at Oxford University and his roommate at the time had rushed him to hospital.