Should Vodacom pay up?

Does Vodacom owe Nkosana Makate compensation?

  • Yes

    Votes: 103 31.0%

  • No

    Votes: 189 56.9%

  • Other

    Votes: 40 12.0%
  • Total voters
    332
Personal opinion is nope...

The courts disagree though for a variety of complicated reasons, so Makate is going to become very wealthy at some point.
 
What is the background of the dispute - did he offer them the idea, did he ever work for them in the periods concerned?

Edit: Answers below..
 
Last edited:
They should pay.

They should not pay billions.

R47M seemed fine to me.

Realistically, hitting Vodacom for billions of rands to enrich one person (and some lawyers) is going to hurt a lot of people to the point where it is not in the national interest.
 
3WA said:
They should pay.

They should not pay billions.

R47M seemed fine to me.

Realistically, hitting Vodacom for billions of rands to enrich one person (and some lawyers) is going to hurt a lot of people to the point where it is not in the national interest.
Click to expand...

Butt-hurt them?

A lot (most, almost all) people have no horse in this race but seem to just be envious of a potential big payday for Makate.
 
Found this for those less knowledgeable about it;

This saga began in November 2000, when Makate – then a young trainee accountant at Vodacom – came up with a genius idea. At the time, Vodacom described the idea as “a world first” and recognised that it was all “thanks to Kenneth Makate”, Marcus said.
The idea was sparked when Makate, more than 20 years ago, had a long-distance relationship with his now wife, who was a student then. As communication was difficult at the time, he came up with the invention, Marcus said.
“Makate was promised compensation. It is common cause that Vodacom has earned billions of rand from Mr Makate’s idea. Despite the product being such an overwhelming success, Vodacom refused to negotiate compensation for the use of the idea,” Marcus said.
Click to expand...

Linky

So, as an employee, since when can anyone have compensation for efforts on the job?
But, yes, they said they would. Current offer sounds fair to me.
 
R47 million would have set this guy and his kids up for life if they apply financial common sense but I think his lawyers are dazzled by the billions possibility because a piece of that pie can be theirs.
 
I know we have covered this before, but the walls of text on the previous threads hurts my brain. (I'm extremely lazy, too.)

Why is he being compensated over and above his salary/benefits that he received whilst in their employ and can I also rake in a truck load of money if I save my company millions?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: OK: allegedly he was promised compensation.

:unsure:
 
It seems there was a gentleman's agreement for some sort of compensation. So Vodacom should honour their word and pay him something. Maybe a couple of million, R5m-R10m at most. Dozens or hundreds of millions is utterly ridiculous and totally beyond the pale.
 
Arthur said:
It seems there was a gentleman's agreement for some sort of compensation. So Vodacom should honour their word and pay him something. Maybe a couple of million, R5m-R10m at most. Dozens or hundreds of millions is utterly ridiculous and totally beyond the pale.
Click to expand...

Yeah Vodacom ultimately buggered up on this one....

If they'd said nothing to him, then he'd be "owed" nothing.
 
No, he is greedy plain and simple. Wants Billions for an idea? He was offered a fair sum of money refused it. So now he should not get any.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Yeah Vodacom ultimately buggered up on this one....

If they'd said nothing to him, then he'd be "owed" nothing.
Click to expand...
Funny how probably the one time (maybe a few more) Vodacom decided to act in "good faith" it ended up biting them.
 
Quicks said:
No, he is greedy plain and simple. Wants Billions for an idea? He was offered a fair sum of money refused it. So now he should not get any.
Click to expand...
Thing is the courts seem to believe his "greedy" demands are legit, at least to some extent.
I find the case fascinating and if Makate is to end up getting his big payday it sets an interesting precedent.
 
azbob said:
Butt-hurt them?

A lot (most, almost all) people have no horse in this race but seem to just be envious of a potential big payday for Makate.
Click to expand...

If you have retirement annuity or pension, you're probably a Vodacom shareholder. Paying out Makate is going to make everyone with a Reg 28 product a tiny bit poorer.

It's the anti-thesis of the fight against inequality. Anyone who supports Makate getting billions but dislikes the wealth gap between the ultra-rich and everyone else is a moron.
 
Other.

Yes, but not 5% of revenue. That's just silly for an idea.
His manager said he would be compensated though, and he should be.

I think the standard R100K (+ interest) other employees received for ideas + court & lawyers costs he had to incur to get the money is fair.
Maybe double it or add some kind of compensation for the time he had to waste to get the money as well.
Hell, if they want to be generous, pay him his annual salary for every year the case dragged on. But 5% of revenue an idea generates... :ROFL::ROFL: We all know ideas are worthless unless implemented well.
 
Barbarian Conan said:
We all know ideas are worthless unless implemented well.
Click to expand...
This is so true. I've seen too many people in life think "ideas" are worth something.

Back on topic, I think a potential couple of billion is too much to be reasonable compensation. Vodacom probably should've offered him the R47mil + lawyers fees to make the problem go away.
 
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