‘Please Call Me’ inventor awaiting calculations after SCA sets aside Vodacom’s R47m offer

Vodacom has suffered yet another defeat after the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) ruling in favour of ‘Please Call Me’ inventor Nkosana Makate.

On Tuesday, the SCA delivered its judgment on Vodacom’s application for leave to appeal a previous ruling made by the High Court in Pretoria in the years-long ligation between the communications company and Makate.

Vodacom CEO’s determination set aside

In a 66-page judgment penned by Judge Ashton Schippers, the Supreme Court reviewed and set aside Vodacom’s decision to offer R47 million to Makate as compensation for creating the Please Call Me.

The appallent court ordered Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub to calculate and make a fresh determination on how much is owed to Makate within one month.

According to the judgment, Makate is entitled to be paid 5% to 7.5% of the total revenue of the service product generated for the communications company over an 18-year period.

The calculated amount has to include interest.

“The award made by the second respondent shall take into account the time value of money, calculated at an average inflation rate of 5%, from 1 March, 2001 to 28 February, 2019.

“The first respondent shall finalise his determination within 30 calendar days of the date of this order,” the court ruled.

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The SCA further ordered Joosub to pay the costs of the application, including the costs of two counsels.

Vodacom had partly succeeded in its appeal as the court found that Makate failed to establish some irregularities in Joosub’s original R47 million determination of reasonable compensation for the Please Call Me idea.

Nonetheless, the court stated that there was an irregularity regarding the tenure of a contract between the two parties.

Initially, Joosub had limited the contract with Makate to a duration of five years and based the R47 million determination on this duration.

“Vodacom has been partially successful in its appeal. It demonstrated, save for the irregularity relating to the duration of the contract, that the High Court erred in upholding all Mr Makate’s review grounds.

“However, Vodacom failed on the central issue: whether the CEO’s determination is unreasonable or patently inequitable,” the judgment further states.

Read the full judgment below:

Vodacom vs Please Call Me Inventor by Molefe Seeletsa on Scribd

In 2016, the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) ordered Vodacom to pay Makate for coming up with the Please Call Me concept, which was introduced in 2001 and allowed cellphone users to send a free message to another user requesting that they be called back.

Protracted negotiations ensued between the two parties, but they failed to reach a settlement, with Makate turning to the High Court in Pretoria.

The Citizen previously reported that Makate indicated that he should be getting closer to R10 billion with interest.

‘Eventual certainty’

In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Makate said he was “glad” with the latest outcome of the case.

“The court was emphatic and unambiguous in its judgment,” he said.

“We are happy with the court’s directives and we will await for those calculations to be made and finalised,” Makate added.

On the possibility of the matter heading back to the ConCourt, he stressed that Vodacom was entitled to take this route.

“I think we are reaching eventual certainty… I mean, obviously, Vodacom has its own rights. If they want to appeal to the [Constitutional Court], they will have to advanced the constitutional point in that matter.”

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