{"id":293678,"date":"2019-01-26T11:35:45","date_gmt":"2019-01-26T09:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=293678"},"modified":"2019-01-30T23:22:55","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T21:22:55","slug":"vodacom-shutdown-threatened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/293678-vodacom-shutdown-threatened.html","title":{"rendered":"Vodacom shutdown threatened"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vodacom is facing a continued onslaught<\/strong><\/a> from politicians and a lobby group to reach a mutually-agreed settlement in the Please Call Me matter.<\/p>\n

This follows\u00a0a statement by Vodacom<\/strong><\/a> earlier this month that its CEO had determined the amount of reasonable compensation payable to Kenneth Makate for his Please Call Me idea.<\/p>\n

Makate responded<\/strong><\/a> to Vodacom\u2019s statement, saying he has not agreed to anything and that \u201cthe amount that the CEO has determined is shocking and an insult\u201d.<\/p>\n

Vodacom retorted, explaining that the Constitutional Court order which ordered it to pay Makate does not require him to agree to the amount set by their CEO.<\/p>\n

Vodacom said it considers the matter closed, and that Makate\u2019s funds will be transferred as soon as they have his banking details.<\/p>\n

Backlash from politicians<\/h3>\n

While Vodacom wants to move on from this issue, politicians and a lobby group called the \u201cPleaseCallMe Movement\u201d have other ideas.<\/p>\n

Communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams told Vodacom<\/strong><\/a> to \u201cjust shut up\u201d recently, urging the company to \u201cdo the right thing, talk to Makate instead of this poor PR stunt”.<\/p>\n

She added that Vodacom should not \u201ctalk to us until you have reached a settlement with his team\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said on Twitter that people must stand by \u201cNkosana \u2018Please Call Me\u2019 Makate\u201d against \u201cthis bully called Vodacom\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lesufi added Makate must be protected from Vodacom and that the company must \u201cpay him by the end of the month of face the wrath of the nation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Saturday Star quoted<\/strong><\/a> Lesufi as saying that \u201cVodacom should not ignore us\u201d and \u201cif they haven\u2019t resolved the issue by 31 January, we are going to use all means possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to lobby institutions involved with Vodacom. We need to lobby the state and we want to put pressure on Vodacom internationally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lesufi added that he has been \u201cin contact with South African embassies to get contacts that could assist in pressurising Vodacom overseas\u201d.<\/p>\n

Vodacom shutdown threatened<\/h3>\n

The PleaseCallMe Movement, headed by Modise Setoaba, is threatening to shut down Vodacom on 31 January if a settlement has not been reached.<\/p>\n

The movement, which claims to be against corporate bullying and consumer injustice, said Vodacom owes Makate R70 billion for his idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoin us as we will be shutting down Vodaworld in pursuit of justice for Nkosana Makate,\u201d a recent flyer reads.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another view<\/h3>\n

With so much focus on the battle between Vodacom and Makate, the true inventor of the Please Call Me service is seldom mentioned.<\/p>\n

Ari Kahn, who previously consulted for MTN, created the \u201cCall Me\u201d technology in 2000 and said Vodacom has in private acknowledged him as the inventor of the service.<\/p>\n

The SA Patent office granted the Call Me patent to Kahn and MTN, and recognised Kahn as the inventor on 22 January 2001.<\/p>\n

As the true Please Call Me inventor, Kahn believes Makate should not get a cent from Vodacom for his \u201cinvention\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kahn said Makate was not the originator of Please Call Me, adding that the courts never once ruled he invented the service. \u201cYou cannot invent an idea \u2013 which is all he proposed,\u201d said Kahn.<\/p>\n

Kahn said Makate has no rights to the Please Call Me service and no rights to compensation as \u201cthe Kahn\/MTN patent constitutes Prior Art\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire case has been portrayed as \u2018the little guy denied his due by the big bully network\u2019 to garner sympathy and obfuscate the fact that he did not actually invent the service,\u201d Kahn said.<\/p>\n

Now read:\u00a0Vodacom Please Call Me \u2013 The truth<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vodacom has been threatened with a complete shutdown over the Please Call Me settlement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":293682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[35,37200,20801,41],"class_list":["post-293678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-headline","tag-kenneth-makate","tag-please-call-me","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293686,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293678\/revisions\/293686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}