Sensing an outcry in a country where many people survive in abject poverty, the South African Football Association threw a veil of secrecy over the figure.

But parliamentarians insisted the salary be revealed this week and it sent shockwaves around the country scheduled to host the 2010 World Cup, the first in Africa.

Parreira, who guided Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title but failed to get them beyond the quarterfinals in Germany this year, was recruited to revive a South Africa side that has plummeted to 17th on the African rankings.

He is the highest profile coach of Bafana Bafana (The Boys) since they were re-admitted to international football in 1992 after almost three decades of racism-induced isolation.

However, in a nation battling to eradicate mass poverty and where some first division coaches earn 5,000 dollars a month, the Parreira salary unleashed a tidal wave of anger.

The mass-circulation Daily Sun noted that 36 houses for the poor could be built each month with the money Parreira is set to receive after signing a four-year contract.

Several other titles were equally critical, recalling that a local, Clive Barker, brought South Africa its greatest football achievements, winning the 1996 African Nations Cup and qualifying for the 1998 World Cup.

Roger de Sa, coach of mid-table Cape Town club Santos, said it was a waste of money as Parreira had no chance of transforming Bafana into a team capable of challenging the giants at the 2010 World Cup.

"Give Fernando Alonso or Michael Schumacher an old jalopy to drive and they wouldn't make any difference either," fumed De Sa, a former national team goalkeeper.

Parreira is expected to watch South Africa open their 2008 Nations Cup qualifying campaign Saturday against Congo at FNB Stadium on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

He will officially take over in January by which time South Africa will have also played a potentially crucial qualifier in Zambia. Chad complete a pool from which only the table-toppers are sure of a place at the finals in Ghana.