SCA rejects Vodacom’s appeal and orders an increased pay-out to Please Call Me inventor

Johnathan Paoli

THE Supreme Court of Appeal has rejected the appeal brought by Vodacom against Please Call Me inventor Nkosana Makate.

The court on Tuesday ordered the mobile network to pay Makate between 5% and 7.5% of the total revenue generated over 18 years, plus interest.

Makate’s legal team calculated that based on a 5% share of Vodacom’s estimated R205 billion in revenue over 18 years comes, a sum of R20 billion is owed by Vodacom, which is double what the company invests into its South African network every year in capital expenditure and over 10% of its entire market capitalisation, which is currently around the figure of R197 billion.

Makate, a Vodacom finance manager at the time, pitched his idea of a method to “buzz” someone’s phone without airtime to a superior on 21 November 2000, with his idea ultimately being developed into a service which launched on the