For his ‘Please Call Me’ concept, Kenneth Nkosana Makate is requesting 29 Billion Rand (2,3 Trillion Naira) from Vodacom. This would instantly make him the fifth richest person in South Africa, ranking him among Motsepe, Oppenheimer, and Rupert.
Recent court filings on the ongoing ‘Please Call Me‘ lawsuit have shown that Nkosana Makate may be eligible to get R29 billion in damages from Vodacom, at the very least.
Makate claims that in 2001, he discussed his concept for a free missed call service with his Vodacom supervisor. The service’s goal was to enable users to communicate with their connections without consuming airtime.
As stated by Daily Investor, Vodacom introduced the ‘Please Call Me’ service in March 2001, and it quickly gained popularity throughout South Africa.
Makate did not play a part in the product’s development, implementation, or patenting, despite having contributed to its idea stage.
In actuality, Makate is not credited with the invention of ‘Please Call Me’, at least not in the version that was sold to customers.
Two months before Vodacom’s product launch, legal expert Ari Kahn created and patented his “Please Call Me” service for MTN, a different service provider.
In spite of this, Makate filed a protracted lawsuit against Vodacom in an attempt to get paid for his concept.
Based on an estimate that the ‘Please Call Me’ product had brought in R205 billion (N16 trillion) in income since it was introduced, Makate’s legal team had first sought R20 billion (N1.6 trillion) as payment for his invention.
Vodacom disagreed with Makate’s assessment of the service’s earnings and his entitlements. But thus far, the courts have taken the side of the group’s former employee in this dispute.
Vodacom first made Makate an offer of R10 million (N790 million) after being compelled to appropriately reward him for his invention. After Makate turned down this offer, the team led by Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub created four models to project Makate’s fair share based on various scenarios.
He made an offer of R47 million (N3.7 billion) after averaging the two models with the highest values. Makate, however, rejected this as well, and the issue was taken to court once more.
Makate filed an appeal with the High Court, and the court decided in his favour in February 2022. This decision was appealed by Vodacom to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court denied Vodacom’s appeal and mandated that the business pay Makate between 5% and 7.5% of the service’s earnings over eighteen years.
Using the models approved by the court, MyBroadband’s study shows that this varies from R28.99 billion (N2,3 trillion) to R55.37 billion (N4,3 trillion).
Vodacom is returning the case to the Constitutional Court because it is dissatisfied with the decision.
POSITIVELY RICH LIST
Even at the “lower” R29 billion (N2,3 trillion) end of the compensation range, Makate would immediately rank among the top five richest South Africans of today if he received the estimated payout.
He would be on par with notable South African businessmen like Patrice Motsepe, Nicky Oppenheimer, Johann Rupert, and Koos Bekker.
These business titans spent decades, if not generations, amassing their fortune. They were the greatest in their industries, and they amassed enormous fortunes by creating incredibly prosperous companies.
Sources: Allschoolabs, Nairaland
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