BCM agency’s ‘crack team’ frays around the edges

The Buffalo City Metro Development Agency’s “crack team” is crumbling, with another top executive throwing in the towel and resigning on Thursday.

The agency’s chief financial officer, Busisiwe Lubelwana, will leave at the end of November, just a year after she assumed office, citing an “unconducive working environment” with her boss, chief executive Ayanda Gqoboka.

The agency was rocked by the departure of another senior official in September when strategy and research executive Lesley Govender resigned from his post.

Lubelwana, who joined the agency in August 2023, after a brief spell at the Sakhisizwe local municipality, announced her resignation in a letter dated October 31 and leaked to the Dispatch.

She is serving notice until the end of November.

Lubelwana could not be reached for comment over the weekend but her sudden resignation was confirmed by agency board chair Mandilakhe Dilima on Sunday.

“I am aware that she had some grievance issues that we are addressing through the internal processes. It is unfortunate that we learnt about her resignation on Friday,” Dilima said.

“There was some element of discontent within management. Her resignation was great shock because the agency has been going through a lot and we had these people there to try and rescue it.

“We thought we had a crack team because the CFO and the CEO are new people.

“We were hoping for positive things to come from the agency for the people of East London.

“However, the public has the right to be concerned, but eventually BCMDA will come right, as we have things in the pipeline that gives us hope,” Dilima said.

The Dispatch understands that Lubelwana had, in August, asked the agency’s board to intervene over a range of issues and that she was instructed to present a formal grievance letter to the board.

In the grievance letter, seen by the Dispatch and addressed to Dilima, Lubelwana accused her boss Gqoboka of having “instructed and authorised actions” against her that were “unjust, prejudicial and discriminatory”.

She further accused Gqoboka of refusing to present to the board her request to have her salary adjusted to correct an error.

This is understood to be related to a salary benchmark process that was done before she assumed her role, dealing with an annual cost of living adjustment that was approved by the board in 2022.

“During the course of the commencement of my service, it was evident that the figure I was offered was without the figures as approved by the board in 2022, and as such was incorrect, and my salary would have to be adjusted to correct the error,” Lubelwana wrote.

“Discussions with HR were had, and a letter was written to the then acting CEO, who upon perusal of the documentation, expressed in writing that indeed there was an error on my salary that had to be corrected. Unfortunately he then left in December 2023.”

She said she raised the issue with Gqoboka in January to have the error corrected.

“The current CEO verbally committed to obtaining all relevant documentation from HR and to take the item to the board for procedural approval.

“Discussions with HR executive have revealed that numerous memos have been written to the CEO in support of this correction.”

Instead, she claimed, Gqoboka did not present the item to the board, and that “to date there has been no formal feedback to me from my superior regarding this matter”.

“I would like to note that this cost-of-living adjustment is applied to all relevant executives who recently joined BCMDA.

“I am the only one, where this error was identified, and to date has not been corrected.”

Lubelwana also raised concerns about thousands of rand were allegedly deducted from her salary after she had gone on maternity leave.

She said the deductions were unjust, and done without any communication to her.

“This is highly concerning that no formal communication was received from both my superior as well as the agency prior to the implementation of such a deduction,” she wrote in her grievance letter.

“This kind of treatment and action has put me under financial strain and disadvantage whilst I was on maternity leave and battling various health issues.”

Speaking to the Dispatch on Sunday, Gqoboka declined to dwell on the allegations.

He said the agency was “remodelling” and “we are reviewing all aspects crippling the agency”.

“People leave an organisation for different reasons.

“Some people leave because they have jobs elsewhere, and some people leave because they don’t identify with the new vision as it is being remodelled.

“I’m new in the organisation. I inherited an organisation that has problems.

“So we are remodelling the agency, and it is up to the people if they want to be part of the future. 

“It is either they ship in or ship out,” Gqoboka said.

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