Businessman Patrice Motsepe on Tuesday announced his family foundation was activating a pledge to donate R117‚5 million over 10 years to promote soccer‚ netball and the arts at schools.

In 2013‚ Motsepe donated half of his family’s wealth to the foundation‚ which has so far funded a range of development projects including the construction of clinics‚ schools and community halls in rural areas as well as bursaries for college and university students.

The Motsepe Foundation said in a statement on Tuesday that it was “launching and activating” a 10-year Sponsorship Agreement with the Department of Basic Education. The sponsorship was first announced in November 2015.

The initiative is also supported by the Department of Sports and Recreation‚ as well as the Department of Arts and Culture‚ the foundation said.

During the first five years of the sponsorship‚ an amount of R55 million will be allocated to the:

- Kay Motsepe Schools Football Cup;

- ABC Motsepe Eisteddfod‚ Choral and Traditional Music and

- Kay Motsepe Schools Netball Cup.

For the next five years from 2021 to 2025 the Motsepe Foundation will contribute another R62‚5 million.

All 25‚000 schools in South Africa have been invited to participate in all three competitions.

The co-founder and CEO of the Motsepe Foundation‚ Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe‚ said: “Sports and music make an important contribution to the growth and development of our youth and helps them become good role models.”

The Kay Motsepe Schools Football Cup has been in operation for 10 years and is regarded as having the largest prize money in the world for school football‚ according to the foundation. The winning school receives R1 million from a total annual prize money of R3‚4 million. The school that comes second receives a prize money of R600‚000 and the school that comes third receives prize money of R400‚000. The schools that win the competition in each of the nine provinces of South Africa receive prize money of R100‚000 each.

South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan said: “This partnership is a great platform and vehicle that will assist our Vision 2022 goals. We have insisted that we need to increase the number of participants that play the game of football and the biggest potential of growth lies within schools. We want more kids to be exposed to football at an early age and we also believe it is within schools that the future Bafana Bafana stars will be identified.”

Jordaan said SAFA had introduced an online registration platform called Inqaku for all school football registrations. “This will assist us in having a database for all the players and curb the age cheating syndrome.”

The sponsorship amount for the ABC Motsepe Schools Eisteddfod‚ Choral and Traditional Music will amount to R3 million per year and the sponsorship for the Kay Motsepe Schools Netball Cup will amount to R2 million per year.

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga said: “Sporting and cultural activities in education help advance social cohesion and are an integral part of a holistic education system… These educational programmes will help to enhance the national identity of our learners and promote our diverse cultural understanding.”