Don’t call us, soccer fans tell Lesufi

Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates supporters do not appear to have heeded Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi’s appeal to South Africans to boycott sporting events associated with Vodacom after it emerged on Tuesday that there were only 5,000 tickets left on sale for Saturday’s Soweto derby.

Chiefs’ communications manager Vina Maphosa said there were only a few tickets left and he urged supporters to make their purchases quickly‚ as they would soon be sold out.

‘‘There are less than [5‚000] tickets left. They have been selling at about 3‚000 a day.

“They may be sold out by [Wednesday]‚” Maphosa said on Tuesday morning.

‘‘Please Call Me” inventor Nkosana Makate and Vodacom have been embroiled in lengthy settlement negotiations and the long-running battle reached boiling point after negotiations between the two parties stalled in January.

Social media went into frenzy and Lesufi and the ‘‘Please Call Me movement” threw their support behind Makate‚ demanding he be paid fair compensation for developing the product in November 2000.

Lesufi said at the time activists‚ including himself‚ were willing to lobby the government to cancel contracts associated with Vodacom.

Vodacom sponsors both Chiefs and Pirates.

‘‘We are calling on South Africans not to attend all Vodacom-sponsored activities‚ sporting‚ racing‚ it can be any activity that is supported or the participants are sponsored by Vodacom‚” Lesufi said last month.

‘‘We are also calling on our people to terminate their contracts with Vodacom so Vodacom can understand that they have indeed angered society.”

The previous Chiefs-Pirates derby‚ in the Telkom Knockout semifinals‚ was held at the Moses Mabhida Stadium‚ Durban, due to a previously scheduled prayer meeting at FNB.

That derby sold out within hours of the tickets going on sale. –