Racism, Putin, suicide and the future of SA: eight thoughts from Eusebius McKaiser you should read or listen to

Eusebius McKaiser was committed to fixing South Africa until the end, with his last thoughts on the state of the country shared just hours before his death.

The popular analyst, broadcaster and author died on Tuesday after suffering a suspected epileptic seizure. He was 45.

McKaiser’s manager Jackie Strydom told TimesLIVE he had gone about his day without any hint of illness.

Just hours before his sudden death, he had shared his views on the political landscape of the country and the ANC's role in some of the crises we face.

“If the opposition parties do not wake up now, I am afraid we will be saddled with the ANC and its sense of incumbency, with the consequences for ourselves materially for a long time to come.”

This was one of many pieces he penned and voiced for TimesLIVE, as he spoke for the voiceless and stood up for the vulnerable.

Here are some of his best recent articles you should read.

Is there a viable alternative to the ANC?

In his last podcast on TimesLIVE, McKaiser explored the scepticism around viable alternatives to the ANC.

He also offered advice on what opposition parties may do differently to attract voters ahead of next year's elections.

Gayton McKenzie has the same race politics as Helen Zille and John Steenhuisen

Just days earlier, McKaiser explored views about race that Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie articulated in a recent interview and explaining why he disagrees with McKenzie that we should “cancel race”.

Unemployment entrenches racism and patriarchy, but it doesn't stop there

As the latest unemployment figures were released, McKaiser shone the spotlight on the plight of black women.

“Within the South African context, it is simply dishonest to not look in detail at how much worse off black Africans in general, and black African women in particular, are.

“Unemployment isn’t gender-neutral nor is it colour blind. To silence these realities is to wilfully and wrongly refuse to understand, and come to grips with, the full nature and structure of the unemployment problem in South Africa.

“Among black African male South Africans, 43.9% are unemployed, and the number is 51% for black African females.”

Freedom Day but not yet economic uhuru

The country celebrated Freedom Day last month, and McKaiser sat down with budget researcher at Section27 Matshidiso Lencoasa to reflect on economic freedom rights.

Political criticism of ICC 'won't hold water if Putin visits SA'

McKaiser also chatted to former Wits University legal academic Dr James Grant to focus on whether it is compulsory for the government to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he comes to South Africa for a Brics summit later this year.

Ramaphosa trades constitutional values for silence on Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill

McKaiser questioned the “deadly silence from the ANC-led government in response to a bill criminalising identifying as gay in Uganda”, amid international outcry.

He argued that the South African government does not take the constitution's foundational values of dignity, freedom and equality seriously.

“If it did, domestically, we wouldn't have millions of people living in material conditions that render their lives undignified, that make them decidedly unfree and that lead to immoral levels of inequality within our society.”

Save teenagers who are quietly battling with thoughts of suicide

Earlier this year, McKaiser highlighted mental health. 

“We must pay more attention to the inherent challenges that come with the mere fact of being a human being.

“Being alive affords us opportunities for deep connection and joy, but also for unbearable emotional pain, some of it sustained and some of it episodic or event driven. That is why an open conversation about suicide is so important,” he argued.

Racism is racism — media coverage of Maselspoort racist attack is too tame

As the country reeled from an alleged racial incident in Maselspoort, near Bloemfontein, on Christmas Day, McKaiser tackled racism and how it is reported.

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