Bernhardt Esau

Esau was born in Swakopmund, Erongo Region on 9 December 1957.[3] He earned his matric at St. Josephs Training College in Döbra in 1977 and graduated from the University of Fort Hare in 1984 with a degree in commerce. Esau rose through the Mineworkers Union of Namibia to become secretary general of the umbrella National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) in 1991. In 1992, during a time of debate concerning the role of Namibia's trade unions, Esau favored maintaining an alliance with SWAPO. However, Esau later in 1994 suggested that the trade unions could form their own political party if workers' rights continued to be ignored by the SWAPO government.[4]

In the same year he was placed on the National Assembly list for SWAPO and was voted into the National Assembly in the parliamentary election. Esau was a member of the politburo of SWAPO from 1991 to 1997, and of the central committee of the party since 1991. As deputy minister of Trade and Industry, Esau supported liberal economic policies, including the setting up of export processing zones in Namibia where labour laws do not apply.[4] From March 2010 Esau served as Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources. In president Hage Geingob's cabinet, appointed in March 2015, Esau was retained in his post.[5]

In November 2019 he was forced to resign over allegations that he took bribes in exchange for providing fishing quotas to the Icelandic fishing company Samherji.[6][7] He was subsequently arrested on these charges, along with the former justice minister Sacky Shangala.[8] On 15 June 2021, the US Department of State sanctioned Esau and Shangala for involvement in "significant corruption".[9]

Esau is married to Swamma Mbulu since the 1980s. The couple has four children. They own a house in Windhoek's Hochland Park suburb, a plot in Otjiwarongo,[3] and the 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) farm Dakota in Omaheke Region.[10]