Vodacom has been using the Please Call Me invention for 25 years.
Vodacom and Nkosana Makate have settled the years-long ‘Please Call Me’ battle out of court.
In an announcement to shareholders this evening, Vodacom says the legal dispute has been settled and, as part of the settlement process, a notice was sent to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) withdrawing Vodacom’s appeal.
“Shareholders are hereby advised that on 4 November 2025, the Vodacom board approved a settlement agreement, and the matter was settled by the parties out of court,” says the statement.
“The parties are glad that finality has been reached in this regard. The settlement has been accounted for in the group’s interim results for the six-month period ended 30 September 2025, subsequent to the publication of a trading statement on SENS on 31 October 2025 related to those interim results.”
Vodacom did not disclose the terms of the agreement.
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In February 2024, the SCA had ordered Vodacom to pay Makate between 5% and 7.5% of the total voice revenue generated by the ‘Please Call Me’ service, derived from prepaid or contract offerings from March 2001 to March 2021 (18 years), including interest.
The Constitutional Court then overturned the SCA ruling, which had followed Makate’s rejection of Vodacom’s R47 million settlement offer.
The ‘Please Call Me’ dispute dates back to 2000, when Makate, then a Vodacom employee, proposed a free messaging service to allow users without airtime to request a call back.
Vodacom launched the service soon afterwards but did not compensate him.
The litigation began in 2008, when Makate took the matter to the High Court, after writing numerous letters to Vodacom in 2007.
Makate previously claimed Vodacom owes him a settlement of R10.2 billion, which excludes accrued interest and the legal fees incurred.
