Makate to take Vodacom back to court over 'Please Call Me' compensation offer
Image: Gallo Images / City Press / Leon Sadiki
Nkosana Makate is expected to drag Vodacom back to court in a bid to fight the compensation offer made for his 'Please Call Me' idea.
The Sowetan reported on Thursday that Makate has rejected an offer determined by Vodacom's group CEO Shameel Joosub to compensate him for the idea. He said his legal team have already drafted court papers to have Joosub’s determination reviewed.
“It is ridiculous and it is flawed, so on that basis we are going to review it,” he told the paper
Makate and the cellphone giant have been embroiled in lengthy settlement negotiations. Earlier in January, Vodacom said they considered the matter settled and closed.
However, Makate felt that the compensation offer was "ridiculous and insulting".
The former Vodacom employee claims he came up with the 'Please Call Me' idea in 2000.
However, Nkateko Nyoka, Vodacom’s head of legal and regulatory affairs, wrote in an opinion piece that MTN launched its idea a month before Vodacom.
"Firstly, 'Please Call Me' was an idea, but not an original one. Secondly, Mr Makate’s idea was just that: a bare idea, which still had to be assessed for commercial viability and technical feasibility. Neither did Mr Makate provide any capital outlay nor assume any risk, as any entrepreneur would do in the circumstances," said Nyoka.
According to Nyoka, Vodacom had complied with the Constitutional Court’s finding in favour of Makate. The apex court had overturned an earlier high court ruling that favoured Vodacom.
Makate told the Sowetan that Vodacom had admitted in court that MTN did not have a similar product. “Even the product development document that was in court written by Pambos Soteriades, who was supposed to be an expert witness for Vodacom, clearly states that MTN did not have a similar programme,” he said.
Image: Vathiswa Ruselo/Sowetan
Part of the document called for Lesufi to “desist from making false and defamatory comments of and concerning our client in relation to its litigation with Mr Makate in general and in particular that our client is in wilful breach of the Constitutional Court order or that it is acting in an unfair and morally repugnant manner towards Mr Makate.”
Lesufi was also ordered to stop calling for “inciting the invasion and occupation of the Vodaworld store or any of our clients premises”. He was given until midday on Wednesday to give a written undertaking to do this.
Lesufi soon hit back on social media, warning: “Bring it on @Vodacom! I am NOT easily intimidated. You can’t bully me or silence my support to the weak and vulnerable. This is a democratic country and I have the right to express my views without fear. The apartheid regime detained me without trial. I am not scared!”
The ANC's Liliesleaf Farm branch have since called on South Africans to cancel their Vodacom contracts and boycott sporting events sponsored by the company.