Vodacom Argues CEO Had Right to Determine How Much Nkosana Makate Deserved for ‘Please Call Me’ Invention

• The highly publicised 'Please Call Me' case continued in the Supreme Court of Appeals in Bloemfontein
• Vodacom told the SCA that the company's CEO was within his right to determine that Nkosana Makate deserved R47 million for inventing the feature
• Makate wants 5% of the revenue generated from his invention, which he estimates to be around R9 billion

BLOEMFONTEIN - The protracted 'Please Call Me' case between the feature's inventor, Nkosana Makate, and telecommunications giant Vodacom headed to the Supreme Court of Appeal on Tuesday, 9 May.

Vodacom told the Bloemfontein-based court that the telecommunications company's CEO, Shameel Joosub, had the right to solely determine how much Makate deserved for inventing the 'Please Call Me' feature, SABC News reported.

This comes after the parties had been at loggerheads over how much the inventor should be compensated.

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Vodacom offers 'Please Call Me' inventor R47 million, Makate wants R9 billion

Vodacom offered Makate R47 million, but the inventor requested 5% of the generated revenue, which he estimates to be around R9 billion.

In 2022, the Pretoria High Court ruled that the compensation the telecommunications giant proposed was not fair and ordered the CEO to make another determination, EWN reported.

When asked why it hadn't acted on the High Court order, Vodacom said it believed the court was wrong in its judgement.

South Africans want Vodacom to compensate 'Please Call Me' inventor

Below are some comments:

Mkhuleko Thabiso commented:

"They're crazy, they must give the guy what's due to him...They knew all along that they've been using a service on debt."

Fisas TeeJay said:

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"They would never make a black man that wealthy even though they made billions with his invention, they rather spend millions in court."

Lolo Makgatho added:

"I can never be accurate with the amount but I think he should be a billionaire by now."

Xolani Nokwe claimed:

"Mr Makate is being systematically denied what is rightly his while a court of law made a determination that he deserves to be paid."

JDee Mrholozi demanded:

"They must stop playing hide-and-seek and give him what's due."

Vodacom ranked best quality network provider but MTN has the fastest download speed in South Africa

In another story, Briefly News reported that a report by Tutela, a crowdsourced data company, revealed that South Africans believe Vodacom is the best quality network provider across all service providers.

Tutela's main objective is to collect data about mobile infrastructure, assisting the mobile sector in understanding and improving the world's networks.

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Tutela's Mobile Experience Snapshot April 2022 study put Vodacom ahead of MTN, Telkom, and Cell C based on metrics such as mobile signal strength, mobile connection quality, and performance of different mobile apps in different places, according to Business Insider.

Source: Briefly News