{"id":623148,"date":"2025-12-13T13:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T11:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=623148"},"modified":"2025-12-13T13:01:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T11:01:33","slug":"please-call-mes-nkosana-makate-faces-final-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/623148-please-call-mes-nkosana-makate-faces-final-showdown.html","title":{"rendered":"Please Call Me’s Nkosana Makate faces final showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nkosana Kenneth Makate will face his former backer, Errol Elsdon, in an arbitration hearing to oppose a claim against 40% of his settlement from Vodacom for his Please Call Me idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsdon, through his British Virgin Islands company Black Rock Mining, is hoping to force Makate to honour a disputed 2011 litigation funding agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a first step, Black Rock moved to block Makate from accessing 40% of the settlement payment, alleging that Makate or his attorneys would dissipate, transfer or distribute the funds to third parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black Rock\u2019s interdict application was heard in the Johannesburg High Court on 4 December, and dismissed four days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acting Judge Don Mahon ruled that Black Rock had not given sufficient evidence to prove that Makate intended to dissipate the funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout evidence of dissipation or irreparable harm, the application cannot meet the requirements of urgency or interim interdictory relief,\u201d Mahon\u2019s ruling stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that was sufficient to dismiss the interdict application, the judge did not rule on any of the merits of the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black Rock has referred the matter to arbitration for a ruling on its claim and is seeking a hearing date in mid-December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsdon\u2019s claim, via Black Rock, came after Makate and Vodacom announced that they had settled their 18-year legal battle in early November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The essence of the dispute was that Makate said he was promised compensation or reward for pitching an idea, which Vodacom\u2019s product team developed into what would become Please Call Me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a memo dated 21 November 2000, Makate, who was a trainee accountant at the time, proposed a system he called the \u201cbuzzing option\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea was for Vodacom subscribers who have run out of airtime to send a missed call to another number and receive a return call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makate said people without airtime \u201cshould be able to at least dial, and the receiving phone should ring and register a missed call\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe other caller will, in turn, notice a missed call and call back the original caller who is without airtime,\u201d his original memo stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twice through the Constitutional Court<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Makate<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Makate resigned from Vodacom in July 2003, with his last day on 31 July 2003. Four years later, on 16 May 2007, he sent the first letter of demand to Vodacom. He launched legal action<\/a> in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After initially losing in the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal, the Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 that a verbal contract existed between Makate and Vodacom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It ordered that the parties negotiate suitable compensation in good faith to honour the original contract. It designated the Vodacom CEO as the deadlock breaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub offered compensation of R47 million, Makate returned to court to challenge how he calculated the amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, Makate was victorious in the High Court and Supreme Court, and it was Vodacom that took the matter on appeal to the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s apex court ruled in Vodacom\u2019s favour, declaring a mistrial and ordering the Supreme Court to re-hear the case with a new panel of judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Vodacom and Makate settled the matter out of court before the hearing could take place. Neither party would disclose the amount, citing a mutual non-disclosure agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although both parties declined to reveal the amount, it was possible to calculate a range<\/a> by comparing Vodacom\u2019s estimated earnings disclosures before and after the announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the settlement\u2019s earnings impact, Vodacom paid Makate between R353 million and R748 million, which would put Black Rock\u2019s before-tax claim between R141.2 million and R299.2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Litigation funding fight clouds Please Call Me saga<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Details of the dispute between Makate and his former funders first emerged in a Mail & Guardian article<\/a> published on 2 June 2016 \u2014 less than six weeks after his victory in the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makate\u2019s initial backer, Chris Schoeman, said that their own attorneys, Stemela & Lubbe, tried to hijack the funding agreement by pressuring Makate into cancelling the original contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He alleged that Stemela & Lubbe conspired to sideline them in 2014 by telling Makate that the funders were not paying the lawyers\u2019 bills and that he could become liable for the costs as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schoeman said the nonpayment claims were a lie and that Stemela & Lubbe made the allegations when his fellow funders, Errol Elsdon and Tracey Roscher, demanded a breakdown of their bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stemela & Lubbe managing director, Wilna Lubbe, denied the allegations and vowed to oppose Raining Men Trade\u2019s case against them. The litigation between the parties dragged well into 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schoeman has since passed away, but at the time, he said that they had used a company called Raining Men Trade to house the funding raised to fight the Please Call Me case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, an arbitration ruling delivered by Advocate MH Mabena on 10 March 2020 found that there was no valid nomination from Schoeman to Raining Men Trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mabena ruled that Raining Men Trade had no valid claim against Makate and that Black Rock Mining held the only valid nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Black Rock Mining had been deregistered, creating the impression that the dispute between Makate and his former funders had been finally resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Elson has since resurrected Black Rock Mining, stating that under British Virgin Islands law, it is as if the company had never been deregistered, meaning its claim against Makate was intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deathbed confessions and conspiracies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Errol Elsdon, former funder of Nkosana Makate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In his recent court papers, Elsdon stated that they had raised and applied R4.39 million in funding for Makate\u2019s case against Vodacom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf this, R2.4 million was paid to Stemela & Lubbe in respect of fees disbursements, with the balance applied to counsel, expert witnesses and litigation expenses,\u201d Elsdon stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Schoeman, he also alleged that Stemela & Lubbe had plotted to sideline him. However, he also levelled a new allegation \u2014 that Schoeman had initially conspired with Lubbe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsdon said they had orchestrated for Makate to terminate the funding agreement by sending letters to that effect through Hahn & Hahn Attorneys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSchoeman, shortly before his death, confided in me that he was in fact the author of the letters despatched on the Hahn & Hahn letterhead, which were sent to himself,\u201d stated Elsdon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his responding affidavit, Makate stated that Elsdon\u2019s claim about Schoeman\u2019s deathbed confession was hearsay at best and inaccurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makate explained that he took advice from Reinard Michau, one of the advocates on his team, regarding which lawyers to appoint to cancel the original funding agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Makate, he and he alone instructed Hahn & Hahn. He also said that he made an affidavit to this effect in 2016, which Elsdon is aware of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crux of Black Rock v Makate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Nkosana Kenneth Makate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Key to the case between Elsdon and Makate is whether the funding agreement with Black Rock was cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makate explained that the letters from Hahn & Hahn cancelled the funding agreement with Schoeman and the company representing his claim, Raining Men Trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the time, Black Rock was finally deregistered, and cancellation with it was not legally possible,\u201d said Makate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNeither Schoeman, who has since passed away, nor Raining Men challenged that cancellation. By the time Black Rock was \u2018revived\u2019, the agreement was cancelled. Nothing that could have inured to its benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makate also said that after he learnt that Black Rock had been revived, the agreement was also cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Makate argued that Elsdon and Schoeman had testified under oath before an arbitrator five years ago that the agreement with Black Rock had been cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Elson has argued that Black Rock\u2019s status as the nominated company in the original contract between Makate and Schoeman remains intact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nkosana Makate will face his former backer, Errol Elsdon, in an arbitration hearing to oppose a claim against 40% of his settlement from Vodacom for his Please Call Me idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":567948,"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_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[102165,21003,20999,51491,20801,102169,102645,21001,41,102168],"class_list":["post-623148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-black-rock-mining","tag-chris-schoeman","tag-errol-elsdon","tag-kenneth-nkosana-makate","tag-please-call-me","tag-raining-men-trade","tag-reinard-michau","tag-tracey-roscher","tag-vodacom","tag-wilna-lubbe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623148"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":623149,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623148\/revisions\/623149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}