If Holomisa is to be believed, the retiring director_general is very competent'

IT STILL baffles some as to how Zam Titus, a former homeland bureaucrat, managed to land a job as a director-general in a department responsible for the birth and nurturing of constitutionalism in SA.

Maybe the link should end there but, this being SA, issues like these are not left to rest.

His department, then known as constitutional development and provincial affairs, was charged with revamping the local government system resulting in the current state of affairs and redesigning the system of intergovernmental relations.

Titus, who has been director-general of the provincial and local government department, leaves the current post, but remains as a special adviser to minister Sydney Mufamadi.

If United Democratic Movement president and former military ruler in the Transkei, Bantu Holomisa, is to be believed, Titus "is a very competent fellow".

Holomisa said he knew Titus for his legal capabilities rather than as an administrator. He was one of the state law advisers in the former Transkei.

"He will do well in places like the presidency, where he would make laws. There are very few like him in SA, if any, when it comes to this," he said.

This probably explains why Titus, 46, a law graduate from the University of Fort Hare, was leader of the Transkei delegation in the constitutional negotiations at Kempton Park from 1991.

By that time Holomisa had already declared his "bantustan" support for the unbanned African National Congress.

Titus served in various structures set up during the negotiating process from 1991 onwards.

He was also chairman of the planning committee of the multiparty negotiating process and one of the chairmen of the transitional executive council.

It was during the Kempton Park negotiations that his skills and capabilities were noticed and the reason he became what he did in the new dispensation.

In 1994, Titus was charged with setting up the Eastern Cape provincial legislature in his capacity as secretary, where he remained until 1997, when he became director_general in the then_constitutional and provincial affairs department under the then_minister, Valli Moosa.

He lead the drafting of the local government white paper which led to the current system of local government and the birth of the Municipal Structures Act, the Municipal Systems Act, Local Government Finance Management Act which set new standards for accounting officers and the Property Rates Bill.

Titus, together with his then deputy, and current director_general at environmental affairs and tourism, Chippy Olver, were the brains behind familiarising Mufamadi with local government issues after the 1999 elections. The minister had been moved from safety and security to provincial and local government.

Titus was with Mufamadi when the latter presided over a complex and often turbulent period of local government restructuring before the 2000 local government elections.

The rationalisation of the country's 843 local authorities into 284, a task undertaken by the municipal demarcation board, was a testing exercise.

This restructuring was a source of discomfort for many actors in local government. None of these role players, however, were more put out during this process than the traditional leaders.

They once held him personally responsible for the difficulties they had with government in getting concessions on their powers and functions, which at one stage they so desperately sought.

To appease them, government twice amended the Municipal Structures Act, increasing their representation in local councils and giving them more powers over, for example, issues relating to gathering firewood.

As a result, the announcement of the election date was postponed three times. A deal was clinched between "amakhosi" (traditional leaders) and government after the intervention of Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma ultimately managed to sell government's persistent theme: that elections do not diminish the institution of traditional leadership and that chiefs' powers would be increased.

A potential crisis in the 2000 local elections was averted, but the matter remains unresolved. The elections marked the final chapter in the formal refashioning of local government.

Talking about Titus and his passion for his job, one observer said the SA constitution, which he apparently knows by heart, "is his Bible".

He always encouraged others to familiarise themselves with the constitution and get to know the legal and constitutional framework within which SA operated.

In the department's website, his job description is reflected as consolidating, developing and sustaining integrated inter-governmental relations and development planning systems.

Not only has he done this, but he has exceeded his mandate and completed his task with aplomb.

He was instrumental in pushing for a probe into the conduct that led to the suspension of controversial defence department arms procurement chief Shamin "Chippy" Shaik.

Even though he has relinquished his position, Titus will continue to be in the public eye as he leads the probe.

Acknowledgements to Xolani Xundu and Business Day