Vodacom suffered yet another court defeat in its protracted legal battle with “Please Call Me” inventor Nkosana Makate when the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein ordered the mobile communications giants to make a new offer.
Makate had rejected the cellphone giant's compensation offer of R47m which was made in 2019. He said he was ready to continue his fight for fair compensation from his former employers.
The Pretoria high court in February 2022 put aside the award by Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub which led to the cellphone giants launching an appeal to the second highest court in the land.
On Tuesday, judge Ashton Scheepers upheld the Pretoria ruling and set the R47m offered to Makate aside.
He gave Vodacom a month to “determine the amount of reasonable compensation due to” Makate in accordance to four models of Joosub's of January 2019 “solely on the basis that the second respondent (Joosub) would have awarded the applicant a contract for 18 years, commencing on 1 March 2001 and terminating on 28 February 2019.”
“The award made by the second respondent shall take into account the time value of money, calculated at an average inflation rate of 5%, from 1 March 2001 to 28 February 2019. The first respondent shall finalise his determination within 30 calendar days of the date of this order,” stated Scheepers.
Joosub was ordered to pay the costs of the application which include the costs of two counsel.
Approached for comment on Tuesday, an excited Makate said: “I am thrilled with the order, it's much better than that of the high court.”
This is a developing story.
TimesLIVE
