Hermanus Loots

Hermanus Gabriel Loots (19 July 1936 – 25 January 2016); also known by his nom de guerre James Stuart) was a South African politician, businessman and former anti-apartheid activist. A member of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) since 1961, he is best known as the chairperson of MK's Stuart Commission, a 1984 internal inquiry that uncovered and condemned abuses by security personnel in MK camps.

Loots was a member of the ANC National Executive Committee from 1985 to 1990 and later was a member of the party's delegation to the negotiations to end apartheid. He served in the post-apartheid National Assembly from 1994 to 1999 before pursuing a private career in business, including as chairperson of the ANC's investment company, Chancellor House.

Early life and education Loots was born on 19 July 1936 at Tamboekievlei (also known as Hertzog; later Mhlangeni) on the banks of the Kat River near Port Elizabeth in the former Cape Province. He was the second of seven children born to Gabriel and Minnie Sophia Loots, who were poor farm-workers descended from the so-called Bastards, a group of Cape settlers of mixed European and Khoi heritage.

After matriculating at John Bisseker High School in East London, Loots studied civil engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he became interested in anti-apartheid politics. Among other things, he was an organiser for the South African Congress of Trade Unions. He was still a university student in 1961, when he was recruited into the first cohort, the so-called Luthuli Detachment, of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).

Stuart Commission of Inquiry: 1984 In December 1983, a mutiny, known as Mkatashinga, broke out MK's camp at Viana, Angola. Protesting rank-and-file objected primarily to the conduct of Mbokodo, the famously brutal internal security wing of the ANC's Department of National Security and Intelligence (NAT). They also objected to their deployment in the Angolan Civil War and demanded to be sent to South Africa to fight the apartheid state. ANC President Tambo appointed Loots to chair an internal commission of inquiry to investigate the grievances of MK recruits and the cause of the mutinies. Other members of the commission were Aziz Pahad, Sizakele Sigxashe, and Mtu Jwili. but it won Stuart a reputation as "probably the most important defender of democratic accountability in the leadership of the ANC in exile". he was a member of the ANC's delegation to an early meeting with eminent white South Africans in preparation for negotiations to end apartheid. He served a single term in his seat, serving as a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, and left after the 1999 general election.

He also remained active in the mainstream ANC. Perhaps most prominently, he was involved in the ANC's response to the so-called hoax email scandal of 2005–2007, which concerned leaked emails purportedly showing a group of ANC politicians discussing how to discredit former Deputy President Jacob Zuma. The scandal led to the dismissal of National Intelligence Agency head Billy Masetlha. ANC Secretary-General Kgalema Motlanthe commissioned an internal investigation, begun in April 2006 under Loots's leadership and also including Josiah Jele, Gilbert Ramano, and Jackie Sedibe. In March 2007, Loots reported to the NEC that, contrary to the findings of an earlier state-led inquiry, the emails were genuine, though some of the contents of the emails were fabricated. However, the NEC rejected the report due to "procedural flaws". They did not have any children.

President Jacob Zuma declared a special official funeral for Loots, held on 6 February, and the flag was flown at half-mast for five days. Zuma awarded Loots the Order of Mendi for Bravery in silver for "his gallant fight against the oppression of the majority of South Africans during the hard times of apartheid injustice. He spoke truth to power without fear or favour."