Please Call Me inventor Nkosana Makate is concerned about the justice system and how court cases involving big companies always take longer to conclude. Picture: Supplied.
DURBAN - Reflecting on the 20 years legal battle with giant telecommunications company Vodacom over the “Please Call Me” matter, Nkosana Makate expressed concern about the wheels of justice.
Makate was speaking to the Daily News, reacting to his recent win over Vodacom after Judge Wendy Hughes ruled in his favour last week and indicated that the calculation used by Shameel Joosub (Vodacom CEO) offering Makate R47 million was too little.
Judge Hughes ruled Vodacom should recalculate the amount due to Makate and said that the Please Call Me inventor was entitled to five percent of the total voice revenue generated from the “Please Call Me” product from March 2001 to March 2021.
The judge also found that Vodacom had defied the Constitutional Court order that the company negotiate in good faith and that reasonable compensation had to be paid to Makate.
Hughes gave the telecommunications company 30 days to recalculate money owed to Makate.
Makate said the matter had taken a toll on him, decrying that court matters involving big corporates always took long to conclude.
“The review case took over three years. The justice system moves very slowly, but in murder cases involving black people we see it moving extremely fast. I believe this has to change because people die of depression while in the litigation process.”
Speaking on the legal fees for his attorneys, he said that currently, he had a contingency agreement with the lawyers and that it had allowed him to proceed with the case.
Asked whether he had been lucky finding employment after he left his former employer, Vodacom, he said: “I was employed by Nedbank for three years, the City of Johannesburg for six years, and now, South African Local Government Association for nine years.”
Makate stated that he and his lawyers were still waiting to hear from Vodacom on whether the company would accept the court ruling.
The originator and brains behind the “Please Call Me” messaging service had rejected the initial R47 million compensation offer made by Vodacom, arguing that he deserved at least more than R10 billion in compensation from the company.
While working at the company as a trainee, Makate proposed the “Please Call Me” idea in 2000. He pitched the idea and had a verbal agreement with the company’s then-director of product development and management.
The concept was immediately taken up, and the service was launched in February 2001.
When Makate never received payment for his idea, he laid a charge against Vodacom and won the case.
In 2014, a judgment in the South Gauteng High Court supported Makate’s claim that he originated the “Please Call Me” concept.
Daily News
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