Nkosana Makate, the man credited with inventing Vodacom’s Please Call Me service, faces another daunting challenge in his two-decade legal battle for compensation: a legal bill of nearly 13 million rand (KSh 101 million) for just one day’s arguments before South Africa’s Constitutional Court.
Makate, a former trainee accountant at Vodacom, was dealt a setback in August when the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the telecom giant and referred the case back to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The ruling came after Vodacom sought leave to appeal against a February 2024 decision by the SCA, which had ordered the company to pay Makate between 5 and 7.5 percent of the total revenue generated by the Please Call Me service since 2001, plus interest.
The potential payout was estimated at between 29 billion rand (KSh 225 billion) and 63 billion rand (KSh 489 billion), though Makate’s legal team told the court he was willing to settle for 9.4 billion rand (KSh 73 billion).
The Constitutional Court, however, sided with Vodacom, saying the SCA had overstepped its jurisdiction.
Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga described the matter as “an unending litigation” and ruled that Makate must pay the costs of three counsel, citing the complexity of the case and the enormous financial stakes involved.
Makate has vowed to challenge the costs order, arguing that he should not be penalised for defending himself in a matter that included two separate Amicus Curiae applications from Vodacom shareholders, Vodafone and Yebo Yethu, both of which were dismissed.
Makate first conceived the Please Call Me concept in 2000 while working at Vodacom.
Despite being recognised as the inventor after a lengthy legal fight, his battle for compensation continues to expose the deep corporate and legal complexities surrounding intellectual property and innovation in South Africa.
