Cape Town - The next Bafana coach will earn between R400 000 and R500 000 a month - half of what Pitso Mosimane was reportedly getting before he was fired earlier this month, according to a report on SundayWorld's website.

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This emerged after the first round of interviews of the five candidates who have been earmarked for Mosimane's job.

Four of the candidates - Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba, Gordon Igesund, Gavin Hunt and Neil Tovey - were interviewed last Thursday. The fifth candidate, Steve Komphela, was set to be grilled on Monday.

Komphela was excused from Thursday's interviews because he's caretaker coach for Bafana, who beat Gabon 3-0 in Nelspruit on Friday night.

Fanyana Sibanyoni, chairperson of the SAFA technical committee, who is conducting the interviews, refused to discuss the next Bafana coach's pay packet, but he did confirm that the new coach would not earn the same salary as Mosimane.

It is understood that agreement on the coach's salary would need to be discussed with SAFA's main sponsors, Absa and Castle.

Carlos Alberto Parreira, who was Bafana coach during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, reportedly earned R1.8m a month, the bulk of which was paid for by FIFA.

Bafana's next match in their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign will be against the Central African Republic on March 23, 2013.