The Constitutional Court will on Thursday deliver the much-anticipated judgment in the case of Please Call Me inventor Nkosana Makate against mobile communication network giant Vodacom.
The judgment is scheduled to be delivered at 10am, just over eight months after the highest court in the land heard the case, which could result in Makate walking away as a billionaire, should the court find in his favour, or a multi-millionaire, should the judgment be favourable to Vodacom.
In November, Makate’s legal team argued that the Please Call Me idea is one of the most brilliant ideas there has ever been, as it solved key problems for Vodacom and its customers.
With these arguments, Makate’s lawyer, advocate Stuart Scott, told the Constitutional Court that Makate deserved to be compensated R9.4-billion by Vodacom.
The Constitutional Court heard an application by telecommunications giant Vodacom. It is to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment setting aside an R47-million offer that Vodacom made to Makate five years ago in 2019.
Makate is opposing Vodacom’s application.
In February 2025, the SCA dismissed an appeal by Vodacom and ordered the company to pay Makate an amount ranging between 5% and 7.5% of the total revenue made through the Please Call Me service for more than 18 years.
R63bn is fair compensation
Calculation estimations showed that Vodacom should pay Makate an amount ranging between R9-billion and R63-billion.
This was deemed a fair compensation for his idea, but Makate intends to settle for R9.4-billion.
The case was heard by Chief Justice Mandisa Maya, Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Justices Nonkosi Mhlantla, Leona Theron, Steven Majiedt, Zukisa Tshiqi, Rammaka Mathopo, Owen Rogers, and Acting Justice Rishinand Seegobin.
Previously, in 2022, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Vodacom must pay Makate more than the R47-million it offered him.
Vodacom, through its CEO Shameel Joosub, offered Makate R47-million in compensation in the long-running saga. Makate rejected it.
During court proceedings, Scott said Makate wants R9.4-billion in compensation. Furthermore, paying him would not financially ruin Vodacom, which invests billions of rands in network development.
Scott said Vodacom made billions from Makate’s Please Call Me invention. Thus, he should be rightfully justified for it.
“This is one of the most brilliant ideas there has ever been. And this idea solved key problems for Vodacom and customers.
“When a customer did not have airtime, they could not make calls. A customer’s handset was literally dead,” said Scott.
Vodacom’s lawyer disagreed
Earlier, Vodacom’s lawyer, advocate Wim Trengrove, said Makate cannot be entitled to up to R63-billion. Vodacom’s offer to him of R47-million, now R80-million after adding interest, is fair and equitable, he said.
Trengrove said the SCA judgment is not implementable and ruins Vodacom and its programs.
He argued that the Please Call Me idea lost commercial value as MTN implemented it first. And the Please Call Me that was rolled out differed from Makate’s buzzing idea.
Trengrove used these points to strengthen his case that Makate is not entitled to anything above the R80-million Vodacom is offering him.
Maya said judgment has been reserved.
November 21, 2024, marked exactly 24 years since Makate gave his Please Call Me idea to Vodacom on November 21, 2000.
During his time with the company, he came up with “Please Call Me”, an idea Vodacom bought into and rolled out in March 2001, which proved to be a success, generating billions of rands for Vodacom.
The Please Call Me service allows network users to send free messages asking for a call back.
