Please ‘pay’ Me, Makate to Vodacom

Vodacom have disclosed that ongoing negotiations between them and former employee and inventor of the “Please Call Me” service have reached a stalemate.

Negotiations between the mobile phone operator and Kenneth Makate have been ongoing after the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the latter, who dragged Vodacom to court for failing to compensate him for inventing the popular service. Vodacom informed The

Citizen yesterday that the matter was now before Vodacom Group chief executive Shameel Jooste for consideration after the parties reached a deadlock in negotiations.

It confirmed negotiations were conducted on a confidential basis and said: “Vodacom will neither breach nor undermine the letter and spirit of the confidentiality undertakings made in agreements entered with Mr Kenneth Makate.”

Jooste is supposedly reviewing submissions presented to him and will make a decision on the mentioned deadlock “in due course”.

On Friday, a group calling itself the #Pleasecallme movement was outside the Vodaworld building in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, demanding Makate be paid. The group blocked entry into the building with rocks, holding placards which read “Vodacom owed Makate R70 billion”.

The more than-a-decade-long battle continues as legal fees pile up for both Makate and Vodacom.

The cellphone operator has gone to court and reached an agreement with the inventor to prohibit him from disseminating any information regarding the settlement negotiations between them.

Makate is still demanding compensation for the “Please Call Me” service after the Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 that the company had to pay him.

His invention, developed in 2000 while working as a junior accountant, is estimated to be in the tens of billions.

It was more than 17 years ago when the “Please Call Me” service was implemented. Makate said he wanted to communicate with his wife, which resulted in the idea for the invention. He wanted to be able to send a message, which cost him nothing, asking the recipient to call him back.