The Motsepe family has pledged R1 billion towards the fight against coronavirus, in partnership with companies and organisations they are associated with, the family said on Saturday.
The donation was announced in a briefing via Zoom.
Several hundred million rands would immediately be made available, billionaire Patrice Motsepe said.
The companies involved are the Motsepe Foundation, African Rainbow Capital, African Rainbow Minerals and Sanlam.
“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.