Daily Dispatch

Backers start to turn on Makate

- ASHA SPECKMAN

Drama has continued to ensue in the Please Call Me matter involving

Nkosana Makate, who gave the idea for the service to Vodacom.

In the latest episode, Makate has opened a fraud case against his former funders, Raining Men Trade, which was placed in business rescue in January, allegedly after not receiving payment from Makate.

Raining Men Trade, a litigation-funding company, claims it bankrolled Makate’s case in the North Gauteng High Court against Vodacom. At the time, Raining Men Trade instructed Makate to settle for no less than R650m.

But Chris Schoeman, a director of Raining Men Trade, said this week the company had since changed its tune and wanted Makate to accept the R49m that Vodacom reportedly offered him in a settlement in January.

Schoeman said the company believed the offer was fair and said that, according to Raining Men Trade’s funding agreement with Makate, the company was entitled to 50%, or R24.5m.

Makate’s refusal to take the deal has left Raining Men Trade, an entity establishe­d primarily to obtain funds for the Please Call Me matter, in the lurch.

The settlement amount has not been verified by Vodacom and Makate as both are bound by a nondisclos­ure agreement.

But the details are likely to surface in court soon as Makate is unhappy with Vodacom’s offer and is in the process of applying for a judicial review.

He offered the Please Call Me idea to Vodacom in 2000 when he was a junior accountant there.

The company reneged on a promise to pay him but in 2016 the Constituti­onal Court ordered Vodacom to enter discussion­s to determine reasonable compensati­on for Makate.

Schoeman said earlier this week that Raining Men Trade would apply to join the latest court case.

But Makate has hit back, saying Raining Men Trade is in fact “running away from arbitratio­n”.

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