Berkley Center

Cecyl Esau is an activist with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation. Esau previously worked for the African National Congress after spending 1987-91 in prison on Robben Island for his involvement with Umkhonto we Sizwe, an armed black liberation group. As a university student he attended political discussions and workshops, graduating in 1974, and subsequently studied law at the University of the Western Cape, where he was detained twice (in 1976 and 1980) because of political activism on campus. In 1977 he became a member of the Student Council; in 1978 he was expelled for a year. Esau then became a Youth Organizer as part of the Urban Planning Commission. With the Launch of the UDF in 1973 he worked as an organizer for the Cape Province.