Henry Eric Isaacs

Henry Eric Isaacs was born March 21 in 1949,He grew up in Raisethorpe,a peri-urban area of Pietermaritzburg.His family was of diverse racial composition:one grandfather was an Afrikaner,one grandmother Zulu,two aunts were Indian.In 1966 he completed high school and worked as a cleck and lab assisted,then enteres the University of the Western Cape (UWC) as a law student.In May 1972 he led campus protests against the expulsion of Ongkopotse Tiro from Turfloop; in July he was elected vice-president of the South Africa Students' Organisation (SASO) at it national conference.In September 1972 he became UWC Students' Representative Council president,but was suspended during student protests early the following year,then banned and restricted to Pietermarizburg almost immediately after being chosen SASO acting president in July 1973, following the banning of Jerry Modisane. 

Isaacs fled to Swaziland in December 1974 after months of police harassment and unsuccessful applications for a passport.A scholarship offer  enabled him to continue his studies at Victoria University in Wellington,New Zealand, where he completed a Bachelor of Law degree.Returning to East Africa,he joined  the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and participated in its 1978 conference in Arusha,Tanzania.