Vodacom is not budging following threats of a boycott.
The cellphone giant said on Thursday it would not be moving from the payment offer it had made to the inventor of “Please Call Me”, Nkosana Makate, despite public pressure and protests against the company.
This as hundreds of supporters from the #PleaseCallMeMovement demonstrated outside Vodacom’s headquarters in Midrand and at major Vodacom shops in Sandton, demanding the company pay Makate his due.
The Please Call Me Movement has the backing of some politicians from different parties.
Vodacom closed its shops in Sandton after sending protesters a cease and desist letter to stop what it described as incitement to invade its stores.
The Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 that Vodacom should pay Makate “reasonable compensation” for the “Please Call Me” service he developed in 2000.
Makate has described as “shocking and an insult” the amount that Vodacom chief executive Shameel Joosub offered him earlier this month.
In one of his affidavits submitted to court in 2015, Makate’s legal team said the Please Call Me service had generated R70 billion in revenue for Vodacom, and that he was entitled to a 15% share, estimated to be about R10.5 billion.
Vodacom’s head of legal and regulatory affairs, Nkateko Nyoka, said yesterday: “If we were to pay R70 billion it means Vodacom SA must close shop tomorrow.”
Speaking to talk radio station 702, litigation funder Chris Schoeman said Vodacom had offered Makate R49 million.
Schoeman said he believed the amount was generous and Makate should accept it.
Schoeman met Makate in 2011 and helped fund his legal battle against Vodacom.