R47M VODACOM OFFER ‘GENEROUS’
WHILE it has been a difficult exercise, the determination that “Please Call Me” inventor Nkosana Makate is entitled to R47million is fair.
If anything, he had been overly generous, counsel for Vodacom chief executive Shameel Joosub said in the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday.
His counsel started argument on his behalf yesterday afternoon following a day and a half of presentations by the Makate camp.
The court listened to the second day of argument during a virtual hearing in which Makate is asking that the R47m offered to him by Vodacom be reviewed and set aside.
Joosub is not opposing the application, and said he would abide by the decision of the court.
Argument on behalf of the cellphone giant was due to be delivered today.
It was argued that Joosub considered both models presented to him at the time by all parties to find a fair solution, but he determined Makate’s model to be flawed, as it consisted of “unrealistic numbers”.
Joosub questioned, among others, the number of Please Call Me messages, the call rates and the duration of the responding calls on which Makate’s model was based.
It was argued that, on each of the chief executive’s models, he tried to be generous in his assumptions.
Judge Wendy Hughes questioned Joosub’s counsel about some of the calculations in his models, for which there was no concrete proof.
She questioned whether it was “just plucked from the air”.
While it was agreed that Makate is entitled to 5% of the revenue generated by Vodacom following his invention, it was all about calculations and how the amount owed to him should be quantified.
On the first day, advocate Gilbert Marcus SC told Judge Hughes that she must determine what was owed to Makate and put an end to the saga that had been running for more than 20 years.
While Joosub came to the conclusion that R47m was a fair amount, the Makate camp was of the opinion that a number closer to R10billion was more realistic.
This week, Marcus argued that, in the light of how Vodacom has dealt with the matter in the past, it would be inappropriate to send the matter back to the chief executive to determine a new amount.
But, he said, if the judge chose to remit the matter to Vodacom, she should issue strict guidelines on how the chief executive should exercise his powers.
Advocate Cedric Puckrin SC, who took over the legal argument on behalf of Makate, argued that it was “mind-boggling” that Vodacom did not know exactly how much it had made from Makate’s invention.
The parties, among others, differ on how much is generated after a person has sent a Please Call Me message and the receiving party has responded by phoning back.
While Vodacom could not give an exact duration of return calls, it said it was less than two minutes, while the Makate camp said the Independent Communications Authority of SA data showed that it was usually longer than two minutes.
Puckrin asked that the court saddle Vocadom with the legal costs pertaining to this battle, including the cost of several experts which Makate consulted in his legal bid.
“He had to fight fire with fire and he thus had to hire a host of experts,” Puckrin said.
Argument on behalf of the chief executive will continue today, after which Vodacom will present its case. Its advocate, Wim Trengove SC, said he would argue for an entire day.
It was agreed that the proceedings would run into tomorrow.