“Please Call Me” inventor Nkosana Makate’s settlement with Vodacom over the product that reportedly generated the company billions of rands was one of the biggest stories of 2025.
There is an expectation that the settlement, rumoured to be close to a billion rands, will be disclosed when the company unveils its annual results in May.
The settlement followed a legal bill totalling about R13-million that Vodacom sent Makate after a day of arguments in the Constitutional Court.
This after Makate in August lost a Constitutional Court case against Vodacom with cost over the “please call me” matter, which was sent back to the
Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
The mobile telecommunication giant announced on November 5 that the company and Makate have settled the 18-year-old matter out of court.
The multinational made the announcement in a Stock
Exchange News Service (Sens) statement, however, the statement did not mention the
settlement amount.
“Shareholders are referred to the announcements released on Sens on July 31, 2025, February 7, 2024, February 28, 2024, and August 27, 2024, in respect of the Please Call Me matter.
“Shareholders are hereby advised that on November 4, 2025, the Vodacom board
approved a settlement agreement, and the matter was settled by the parties out of court.
“The parties are glad that finality has been reached in this regard.
“The settlement has been accounted for in the group’s interim results for the six-month period ended September 30, 2025.
“Subsequent to the publication of a trading statement on Sens on October 31, 2025, related to those interim results.
“As part of the settlement process, a notice was sent to the Supreme Court of Appeal withdrawing Vodacom’s appeal.
“Additionally, a notice was sent to the high court to abandon the February 8, 2022, judgment,” Vodacom said in a statement at the time.
The settlement comes after the Constitutional Court in
July referred Makate’s case against Vodacom back to the SCA.
The judgment, delivered by then outgoing ConCourt Justice Mbuyiseni Madlanga, could have resulted in Makate being awarded R47-million or over R10-billion for the “Please Call Me” invention.
The Constitutional Court delivered the July judgment in favour of Vodacom during a
special court sitting in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
On November 21, 2024, Vodacom brought an application to the Constitutional Court to appeal a February 2024 SCA judgment that set aside a R47-million offer that Vodacom made to Makate six years ago in 2019.
Makate opposed Vodacom’s ConCourt application. He cited that he deserved to be compensated R9.4-billion by Vodacom.
In February 2024, 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.
Calculation estimations showed that Vodacom should pay Makate an amount ranging from R9-billion to R63-billion as fair compensation for his idea.
But Makate intended to settle for R9.4-billion.
Previously, in 2022, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Vodacom must pay Makate more than R47-million it offered him in the long-running saga.
Vodacom, through its CEO Shameel Joosub, offered Makate R47-million for his “Please Call Me” idea. Makate rejected it.
Makate was represented by his lawyer Stuart Scott.
Vodacom was represented by its lawyer, Adv. Wim Trengrove SC, during the November 2024 appeal application.
In November 2024, Vodacom argued that Makate cannot be entitled to up to R63-billion.
Its offer to him of R47-million, now R80-million after adding interest, is fair and equitable, it said.
