INCOMING South African Post Office group chief executive, Chris Hlekane, who replaces axed Motshoanetse Lefoka, will have a mammoth task in turning around the organisation .

Lefoka left in January after she was accused of awarding a R425-million lease tender irregularly.

Hlekane's first challenge will be to appoint a chief operating officer to fill in former chief operating officer John Wentzel's shoes. Wentzel left last year after he was also implicated in the lease scandal.

Hlekane also needs to find a chief financial officer and a chief information officer. The previous post office CFO, Nick Buick, who also acted as CEO after Lefoka's sacking, resigned from both positions in June.

South African Postal Workers Union spokesman Tutu Mokoena said Hlekane would need to decentralise the Post Office's management system.

"The current management causes unnecessary red-tape.

"For instance the appointment of a teller has to be signed off by a CEO because it has to go through nine different offices before it can be approved," Mokoena said, adding that because of centralisation, it took the post office six months to a year to fill a vacancy.

He also said Hlekane would need to find a way to boost staff morale, which was at an all-time low. "The workers should have received salary increases in April, but this is yet to happen. We do not know why the management has suspended the wage negotiations and when workers will get their increases," Mokoena said.

"There are 8500 casual employees who have been behind numerous strikes and they are not unionised."

Mokoena said the post office was also rocked by corruption scandals. Hlekane will also be responsible for turning Post Bank into a commercial bank.