27 March 2021
The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Western Cape expresses its sincere condolences to the family, comrades and friends of Comrade Cecyl Esau, who died of natural causes on 17 March 2021, in Table View, Cape Town.
Comrade Esau, who was born in Worcester, was a distinguished and militant anti-apartheid activist who stood firm against economic exploitation of the working class and rural masses. He developed into a skilful rounded cadre, conscious of his strategic task as a student activist during his time at University of the Western Cape (UWC), where he registered for a BA. His participation in the 1976 national student uprising resulted in his first period of detention. In 1977, Comrade Esau was elected to the UWC’s Student Representative Council. He continued to mobilise students despite expulsion in 1978, and in 1980 he was once again subjected to a lengthy spell in detention.
In 1981 Comrade Esau joined the Churches’ Urban Planning Commission, a platform from which he continued to organise people into civic associations and youth groups in Worcester. He subsequently became a founding member of the Cape Youth Congress, which later became the South African Youth Congress and integrated into the ANC Youth League after its unbanning.
It was the year 1983, where the National Party regime faced an all rounded resistance against its Apartheid and Bantustan policies. In its attempt to counter an ever growing confident and militant opposition – evolving into a broad anti-apartheid popular front – the apartheid president PV Botha announced a government policy to create an ethnic-based Tri-cameral parliamentary “representative” system, excluding Black African South African majority. The twin objective of the Nationalist Party regime was to increase repressive measures to the Black majority whilst attempting to co-opt the so-called Coloured and Indian communities into its apartheid political system.
Comrade Esau by then also evolved from reducing the above ground political activism to plotting an underground military response to the changing material conditions on the Cape Flats and the country in general. He believed that the anti-apartheid political momentum had to be accompanied with an equal ability to defend our communities against the growing militarised assault on the part of the security apparatus of the apartheid regime. He witnessed the brutal proxy-low intensity warfare unleashed by Inkatha on the communities of Natal and the then Witwatersrand in PWV now Gauteng Province.
For Comrade Esau, it was not inconceivable for that reactionary low intensity warfare to be fermented on the Cape Flats which later proved to be correct when the security forces unleashed the Witdoek phenomenon on the Black African townships.
The broad anti-apartheid popular revolt had also evolved after the Tri-Cameral parliament was imposed upon the political situation amidst popular resistance.
The launch of the United Democratic Front in 1983, and the period after coincided with the bombing of Labour Party parliamentarian homes who opted to serve in the Tri- Cameral parliament. It was an attack carried out to register the presence of MK activities in the so-called Coloured communities.
Commissar Esau was instrumental in the setting up of the underground network of MK units on the Cape Flats.
At the time of his arrest at the house of a conservative religious family in Wynberg in 1986, the notorious Captain Liebenberg with a contingent special forces led the arrest of Comrade Esau. It was evident from the way the operation was executed that Captain Liebenberg had netted an important operative in his crackdown on the growing MK activities on the Cape Flats.
In the aftermath of Comrade Esau’s arrest, a list of names was discovered. It was not clear whether it was dropped by accident or deliberate, but it had the names of Comrades Ashley Forbs, Anwa Dramat, Peter Jacobs, Nicklo Petro and a host of others. It is believed that the arrest of these comrades was averted that same night after they were alerted of Commissar Esau’s arrest.
In August 1987, Comrade Esau was sentenced to 12 years and transferred to Robben Island.
Further, he was convicted in terms of the Internal Security Act of 1982, alongside Lizo Bright Ngqungwana, Theophilus Mute Mzukwa, Joseph Ngoma, Sazi Veldtman, Douglas Myamya, Joseph Susele Mkhulwa, Anderson Zingisile Ncivata, Nozulu Mabengeza, Quentin Michels, Reed Izwelethu Macozoma, Norman Siseko Macanda, Cyril Ntabeni, Themba Tshibika and Neville van der Rheede.
The onset of negotiations resulted in Comrade Esau and his comrades getting released in 1991. He went on to work for the ANC, after its unbanning, as an organizer, and thereafter joined the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, while furthering his studies at UWC, obtaining a Master of Arts Degree in 2007.
Therefore, the SACP mourns the loss of Comrade Cecyl Esau and honours his contribution as an outstanding political activist and courageous MK combatant of the liberation movement. In his memory, the SACP calls for the intensification of our struggle – in defence of our constitutional democracy and against corruption and counter revolutionary forces bent on seeking the destruction of our state institutions.
His contribution will be missed as we face an interregnum of an unprecedented level of danger and uncertainty.
Issued SACP Western Cape
Contact:
Benson Ngqentsu
SACP Western Cape Provincial Secretary
Mobile: 0838091142
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY | SACP
EST. 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA | CPSA
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