The Motsepe family has pledged R1-billion toward the fight against the spreading of the coronavirus.

This is in partnership with companies and organisations that they are associated with.

The companies and organisations are:

·         Sanlam

·         African Rainbow Capital (ARC)

·         African Rainbow Minerals (ARM)

Mining mogul Patrice Motsepe and his wife Dr. Precious briefed the media along with financial services company Sanlam executives to make the announcement.

"We are purchasing sanitisers, disinfectants, personal protective equipment and are in discussions with government, health officials and other leaders to assist with acquiring other equipment and making resources available," Dr. Motsepe said.

She added that some of the money would be used to help poor rural and urban communities who have water shortages.

She said they would be "purchasing water tanks, drilling and equipping for boreholes and also building sanitary facilities."

The money would also benefit schools.

"We will be building additional classrooms, computer centres and laboratories in all of the nine provinces to assist with the excessively high number of students in some schools," said Dr Motsepe.

The announcement by the Motsepe foundation comes a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa informed the nation that the  Rupert and Oppenheimer families had pledged R1 billion each to assist small businesses and their employees affected by the coronavirus pandemic.