Ernest Singqokwana Malgas was born August 8th,1937 in Port Elizabeth. Malgas never attended school.He became politicized as a result ,he spend six weeks in jail as a teenager because of misidentification by police,who were looking for a neighbor.he joined the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL),and in 1962 left South Africa for military training in Ethopia. he was arrested in Rhodesia en route back to South Africa in January 1963,he spent 14 years on Robben Island,he was released with a five-year ban in April 1977.
he joined Umkhonto we Sizwe and helped launch and lead the 1980s civic movement in the Eastern Cape,even though he was ban he helped again to launch the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO) in 1979.