Ezrom Kgobonyane Sebata Legae was born in Vrededorp, Johannesburg in 1938. He attended school at St. Cyprians and Madibane High School.

In 1959, Legae studied in the Polly Street Art Centre, one of the first places to bring artists from different areas under one roof. During the 1950's, it became the cradle of the first professional African Artists whose art was mainly concerned with the social conditions of their segregated settlements. Legae then studied with Cecil Skotnes and Sydney Kumalo at the Jubilee Art Centre from 1960 to 1964. He became a teacher at the centre in 1965 when he took over Kumalo's post as assistant to Skotnes.

Legae received a scholarship from the US-SA Leadership Development Programme (USSALEP) to travel to Europe and the United States in 1970. In 1972, he was awarded a Bursary from the Merit Grant Fund, USA. From 1972 to 1974, he was director of the African Music and Drama Association Art Project. From the mid-1970s until his death in January 1999, Legae lived in Soweto, Johannesburg, with his family and worked full time as an artist.