Vodacom and Kenneth Makate have finally settled the Please Call Me matter out of court.
Vodacom has agreed to pay Makate an undisclosed amount.
The case has been dragging on since 2018, when Makate sued the telco for compensation for the idea of the Please Call Me service, which he claims he was promised by never received.
Even after it was determined Vodacom did have to pay compensation for the idea, the amount varied by as much as R9-billion that Makate claimed was owed and R47-million offered by Vodacom.
Yesterday (4 November), the Vodacom board approved a settlement agreement, and and the matter was settled by the parties out of court.
“The parties are glad that finality has been reached in this regard,” according to a SENS statement from Vodacom.
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 31 October 2025 related to those interim results.
As part of the settlement process, a notice was sent to the Supreme Court of Appeal withdrawing Vodacom’s appeal, and a notice was sent to the High Court to abandon the judgement passed on 8 February 2022.