Mobile telecommunications group Vodacom has informed shareholders that the ongoing Please Call Me matter will be heard by the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group received a directive from the ConCourt that it would hear the matter following the judgment handed down by the Supreme Court of Appeal on 6 February 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Vodacom confirms that on 26 August 2024, the Constitutional Court of South Africa issued a directive that it will hear Vodacom South Africa’s application for leave to appeal in the Please Call Me matter, in tandem with its appeal against the SCA Judgment,” Vodacom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Chief Justice has reportedly<\/strong><\/a> given Vodacom until Thursday, 26 September 2024 to file an abridged paginated record to determine the issues that must be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It then has until Thursday, 10 October to file written arguments. Makate\u2019s team has until 17 October to file their written arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The date of the hearing will be set in due course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vodacom has been fighting a decades-long battle over the Please Call Me service, brought by its purported inventor, Kenneth Makate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Makate, he had an idea for a free missed-call service that he shared with his superior at Vodacom in 2001. The service aimed to allow customers to get their contacts\u2019 attention without using airtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As reported<\/a> by Daily Investor, Vodacom launched the service, known as Please Call Me, in March 2001, and it became widely used across South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Makate then launched a lengthy legal battle against Vodacom in 2008, seeking compensation for his idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Makate\u2019s legal team had initially demanded R20 billion to compensate him for his idea, based on a calculation that the Please Call Me product had generated R205 billion in revenue since its implementation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Vodacom did not share Makate\u2019s views on how much revenue the service generated or how much he deserved. The courts, however, sided with Makate on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After being ordered to fairly compensate Makate for his idea, Vodacom initially offered him R10 million. Makate rejected this offer, and Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub\u2019s team then constructed four models to estimate how much Makate should get based on different scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After averaging the two models with the highest values, he came up with an offer of R47 million. However, Makate rejected this as well, and the matter again ended up in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Makate approached the High Court, and in February 2024, the court ruled in his favour. Vodacom appealed this ruling at the Supreme Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the Supreme Court dismissed Vodacom\u2019s appeal and ordered the company to compensate Makate between 5% and 7.5% of the revenue generated by the service over 18 years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to MyBroadband\u2019s analysis, this ranges from R28.99 billion to R55.37 billion using the models accepted by the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n