Should Vodacom pay up?

[Segg]

Other

From what I remember from this case, he was the inspiration for PCM's not the inventor, The Vodacom big wig (was it Alan Knott Craig?) who watched him calling to a friend was the actual inventor

So yeah, share some proceeds with him, but the multi-billion rand amount is ludicrous

 

[Brian_G]

Other

From what I remember from this case, he was the inspiration for PCM's not the inventor, The Vodacom big wig (was it Alan Knott Craig?) who watched him calling to a friend was the actual inventor

So yeah, share some proceeds with him, but the multi-billion rand amount is ludicrous

Nope

I still find it hilarious how former Vodacom CEO Alan Knott Craig blatantly lied about how the Please Call Me idea was created.....https://www.news24.com/Fin24/court-slams-execs-false-please-call-me-story-20160426

“Instead, as the High Court later held, Messrs Knott-Craig, Vodacom’s CEO, and Geissler created a false narrative pertaining to the origin of the idea on which the 'Please Call Me' product was based,” said the Constitutional Court judgment.

“They dishonestly credited Mr Knott-Craig with the idea and this lie was perpetuated in the latter’s autobiography,” said the judgment, referring to the book 'Second is Nothing'.

The court highlighted how Geissler, responding to an email from Knott-Craig, said on December 25 2009 that him and Knott-Craig came up with the idea. The email exchange happened after media had queried the correctness of the story.

But the Constitutional Court said Geissler’s response in 2009 “contradicted his earlier email of 9 February 2001 which was addressed to staff at Vodacom.”

In the email, Geissler said “Kenneth Makate from our Finance Department came up with this idea a few months ago and brought it to the Product Development Division. We wish to thank Kenneth for bringing his idea to our attention.”

The Constitutional Court further said that Vodacom’s managing director further acknowledged Makate for the idea in a newsletter published in March 2001.

 

[ForceFate]

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.

As greedy as Vodacom I suppose? They must pay up.

 

[wbot]

No. Pay him R20billion now and tomorrow he'll demand R100gazillion. Greedy bastard

 

[Amay82]

When I go beyond my scope at work and pitch great innovative ideas I am only rewarded with an extra extra bonus, not 5% of turnover , 47mill seems more than fair. Clearly the judge is no business person, as I doubt Makate even wrote the program, implemented into the network or advertised its use. Was he even in the room when these strategies were discussed? Maybe SABC should get another 5% of turnover as they broadcasted it to the masses, probably save them and the tax payer

 

[MuterOfWorlds]

If the other parts of the story not getting the same amount of attention are accurate, it was never his idea to begin with, but from MTN, who, if not mistaken, even put out a press release as to why they didn't sue Vodacom for stealing it......

Funnily enough, if MTN had sued Vodacom, they'd be in a situation to sue him for damages due to mispresentation/fraudulently claiming ownership when not the case, and not only would he not be getting paid, he'd be the one in the dwang instead.

 

[Ravi_GP]

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.

I have been following this matter since the beginning.. Almost 20 yrs ago.. He deserves to be paid even though he came up with the idea whilst in the employ of Vodacom for two simple reasons. 1. He was promised payment. 2. He worked as a trainee accountant, not in product development etc. Accountants are not employed to develop new products etc, so the excuse that he was in the employ of the company does not hold. Finally Vodacom has been dishonest in how they dealt with this matter. I stand to be corrected, but I think even the founder.
CEO.. Alan Knott Craig tried to take credit for this idea.. Vodacom must pay and I hope this guy gets rewarded in the billions. He deserves it!

 

[lukewarm]

Do you believe Nkosana Makate, "inventor" of the Please call me, is due compensation from Vodacom?

Yeah definitely. The courts have said so, let it be so.

 

[Herr der Verboten]

Option for "don't care " please

Sies. Don't come here with your anti narrative thinking.

 

[HowTo]

Ok when I used to work we had a clause stating any invesion in the workplace cant be claimed for. Specialy if the company scores big time.
Call it what you want to call it. Think all other workplace have that in place.

 

[Fred07]

Ok when I used to work we had a clause stating any invesion in the workplace cant be claimed for. Specialy if the company scores big time.
Call it what you want to call it. Think all other workplace have that in place.

WTF is " invesion in the workplace"

??

 

[RedViking]

Yes, but not more than 1 billion, over a period of 50 years

 

[Fulcrum29]

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.

As will the tax man.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Yes, but not more than 1 billion, over a period of 50 years

Nah, ah, they must pay the man in cash money,

 

[TelkomUseless]

He didn't invent it (MTN /guy did).

So he "sold" the idea to VC.

So fine, but billions of Rand ? Nope. If he was suppose to be compensated, usually it would be a once of incentive, not all of a sudden , you getting a cut of money [till the end of time] from an idea. That type of deal would be done with CEO etc, not your manager.

 

[Rouxenator]

For something MTN already had?

No.

 

[marine1]

I'm sure all the years of OOB will cover it easily. And some of the execs will just have to take a few million a year less.
VC directors cooked this up horribly.
Maybe if they had agreed to pay him in the beginning this wouldn't be where it is now.
Could have saved VC billions buy they thought they would crush him being the massive company they are. Didn't work out that way did it ?

 

[marine1]

Yeah, R5000 should be good enough. It's not like he invented a formula for cold fusion. He literally just sent a "free" network message, so customized the text on an existing feature.

Problem is the amount is based on a percentage not an outright amount

 

[BraZef]

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.

5% seems fair but let's say 0.5%. That would be 1 billion.
I don't really agree with the time value of money argument because Makate would have built his wealth, and Vodacom would have certainly done so.

And then just with personal experience: "vodacom is a bunch of skelm p**se!"

 

[3WA]

5% seems fair but let's say 0.5%. That would be 1 billion.

On what basis? Did Vodacom agree to 5% at the outset?