There is hardly any buzz around it but schoolchildren in Lethlabile and Edendale have something to jump up and down about after sports minister Nathi Mthethwa announced the inaugural Fifa-Caf pan-African schools football championship in SA will start this month.

The initiative was perceived after world football governing body Fifa and DR Congo Football Association (Fecofa) signed a development agreement in Kinshasa in April last year to organise football tournaments in schools.

Patrice Motsepe, fresh from his election as the president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) in Rabat on March 12 last year, was in attendance during the agreement signing ceremony in Kinshasa and announced the first-of-its-kind initiative will be rolled out throughout the rest of Africa.

Promoting football in schools is one Caf’s goals under Motsepe’s leadership and the South African billionaire businessman put his money where his mouth is a month later in May when his Motsepe Foundation donated $10m (R144.5m) for the establishment of the inaugural Fifa-Caf pan-African School Football Championship.

The announcement of the financial injection was made in Abidjan where Motsepe said the money would be used to initiate and support the development and growth of schools football in the six Caf zones.

The initiative is in full swing in the DR Congo where football is a religion in the developing central African nation with a population of 90-million.

Mthethwa did not provide details, as he mumbled the news of the initiative during his response to a committee member who reminded the minister that school sports is at its lowest ebb and little is being down about it.

But the minister said SA schools will in the long run benefit from the initiative.

“All the schools will be there competing and the competition is starting later this month [February],” Mthethwa said during a virtual sitting of the portfolio committee on sports, arts and culture.

“Out of this very focused programme, together with the department of basic education, we have two teams which are going to be representing SA; one in Letlhabile in Brits, the high school for boys there.

“Another one is the girls' high school in Edendale. These are schools in the townships, which means that we will be seeing the outcome as we move forward.

“On this schools programme 40% of the conditional grant is allocated to school sports for the provision of equipment and creating capacity and so on.”

Mthethwa bemoaned the fact only 10% out of the 25,000 schools in SA play organised sport with proper facilities.

The targeted age group is boys and girls between 12 and 14 and the championship is played in three stages.

Details are sketchy but it is understood the programme started at national level with the involvement of the SA Football Association (Safa) before proceeding to six zonal tournaments which provide a qualification path to the Fifa-Caf pan-African schools football championship finals.

The first full edition of the championship which will include all African countries will take place between this year and next.