Vodacom Group Ltd closed some South African stores on Thursday as protests intensify over the level of compensation the mobile-phone company is prepared to pay an ex-employee who had an idea for a popular call-back service.<\/p>\n
While Vodacom says it accepts a 2016 court ruling that the company should pay Kenneth Makate for his creation, the two parties are at odds over the correct amount.<\/p>\n
Makate\u2019s cause has been taken up by various groups sympathetic to his battle, including black rights activists and South Africa\u2019s telecommunications minister.<\/p>\n
Makate, 42, came up with the idea for \u2019Please Call Me\u2019 while working for Vodacom in the early 2000s, and the concept was adopted by the Johannesburg-based carrier, which is majority owned by UK giant Vodafone Group Plc.<\/p>\n
The service enables customers with no credit on their phone to get a message to someone to call them back, and proved popular with Vodacom\u2019s millions of subscribers.<\/p>\n
South Africans have increasingly targeted the stores of major retailers as a way of protesting perceived injustice, particularly race-related.<\/p>\n
Nike Inc. temporarily shuttered outlets in August after the husband of an employee was caught in a racism row, while a year ago Hennes & Mauritz AB shops were trashed in protest at a controversial advertisement showing a black child modeling a hoodie with the text \u201ccoolest monkey in the jungle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The PleaseCallMe movement \u201cwas born after Makate came out and spoke about the bullying tactics used by Vodacom during two years of negotiating compensation,\u201d Nelson Tau, a representative of the campaign, said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came out in support of the young black professional having to fight and endure the bullying of a big corporate.\u201d<\/p>\n