‘Please Call Me’ inventor cancelled 40% deal with wrong company, court told

Nkosana Makate, the man behind Vodacom’s “Please Call Me” idea, cancelled a legal backing contract in 2015 with the wrong company, and his deal with British Virgin Islands company Black Rock Mining, which is claiming entitlement to 40% of his payout, still stands, the company argues in court papers.

An urgent application initiated by Errol Elsdon, former director of Black Rock Mining, will be heard on Tuesday in the Johannesburg high court.

Makate settled with the telecom giant earlier this month, after nearly two decades of litigation, for Vodacom to compensate him for his “Please Call Me” idea.

The exact amount of the settlement has not been publicly disclosed, but it’s estimated to be worth more than R600m.

Elsdon’s application has put the payout on ice.

The UK investor wants Makate’s attorneys, Stemela & Lubbe Inc, to withhold 40% of the payout, which he claims Black Rock is entitled to but has been disputed for a decade.

Elsdon’s claim emanates from a 2011 agreement that the late Christiaan Schoeman had with Makate to fund “all of his legal costs” in the litigation against Vodacom.

Schoeman signed the agreement on behalf of the company.

Makate, in his legal papers, argues the company never fulfilled its legal obligations and he terminated the agreement in 2015. Schoeman, on behalf of the company, accepted the termination.

Elsdon, however, maintains Makate terminated the contract with the wrong company, Raining Men Trade.

The agreement was allegedly transferred to Raining Men Trade, also owned by Elsdon, after Black Rock was deregistered in April 2014 “due to failure to pay annual fees”. The process was found to have been fraudulent, with an arbitrator finding that the only valid agreement was with Black Rock.

Elsdon argues Makate’s agreement with Black Rock still stands because the recorded cancellation of the contract refers to Raining Men Trade and not Black Rock.

“It is Ms [Wilna] Lubbe (an attorney representing Makate) and Mr Schoeman who used Hahn and Hahn Attorneys to attempt to cancel the agreement with Raining Men. But Raining Men is not the claimant in this matter. The claimant is Black Rock Mining Limited,” Elsdon contends.

“Significantly, Ms Lubbe has failed to disclose to this court that an amount of R1.5m was paid into her personal banking account nominated by her in the UK.”

Elsdon has been adamant that Makate benefited from the funding provided by Black Rock “throughout his litigation” against Vodacom.

“It would be unconscionable to allow him to retain the entire benefit while denying Black Rock its contractual entitlement.”

Makate pushed back against Elsdon and dared him to provide proof of payment of legal fees for the litigation.

“An initial amount of money was paid to Ms Lubbe in 2011 for the purpose of paying my legal representatives. Not a cent has been paid since the paltry amount of R7,853 by Mr Schoeman on December 4 2014,” Makate argues in his rebuttal.

“I challenge Elsdon to demonstrate a single payment that the applicant has made in contributing to this litigation in the last 14 years. Black Rock now wishing to share in the spoils is an utter disgrace.”

Makate described Elsdon’s claim as “fraudulent”.

The UK investor, however, denied the allegation.

“The inflammatory allegations of fraud and dishonesty against myself, the late Mr Schoeman and Ms [Tracy] Roscher are vehemently denied.”

He maintains his withdrawal of previous litigation against Makate was no waiver.