In 2010 he was promoted to Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, a portfolio he held until November 2019 when he was forced to resign in the wake of the Fishrot scandal.

[1] 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.

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.

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.

They own a house in Windhoek's Hochland Park suburb, a plot in Otjiwarongo,[1] and the 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) farm Dakota in Omaheke Region.