JSE-listed Vodacom Group has finally reached an out-of-court settlement with former employee Kenneth Nkosana Makate over the long-drawn-out “Please Call Me” invention dispute.
The Midrand-headquartered telco giant confirmed the settlement in a short Sens announcement after the market closed on Wednesday. However, it did not reveal the final settlement amount.
“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,” its Sens reads.
“The parties are glad that finality has been reached in this regard.”
It adds: “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.”
This means that details around the settlement amount could be revealed when Vodacom releases its interim results next week (scheduled for 10 November).
The group had previously offered Makate around R47 million, but he continued his court action, hoping to get around R10 billion from Vodacom. Other much higher figures up to R40 billion have been cited, based on the fact that Please Call Me was launched over two decades ago, around 2001. Makate posted in an x post on Wednesday that: “Indeed, the ‘Please Call Me’ matter has been settled and is subject to confidentiality”.
“As part of the settlement process, a notice was sent to the Supreme Court of Appeal withdrawing Vodacom’s appeal,” Vodacom says in its Sens filing on Wednesday.
“Additionally, a notice was sent to the High Court to abandon the 8 February 2022 judgment.”
