“Vodacom is surprised and disappointed with the judgment and will bring an application for leave to appeal before the Constitutional Court of South Africa,” the mobile operator said.The Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa dismissed Vodacom’s appeal to a North Gauteng High Court ruling on Tuesday, 6 February 2024.
Makate, a Vodacom finance manager at the time, pitched his idea of a method to “buzz” someone else’s phone without airtime to a superior on 21 November 2000. Foreseeing the inevitable breakdown in talks, the Constitutional Court included a failsafe in its ruling that designated Joosub as the deadlock-breaker.
Makate’s legal team argued that limiting the timeframe to 5 years was irrational, as Please Call Me had generated substantial revenue for Vodacom for longer than that.The Supreme Court was unconvinced by Vodacom’s argument and said that the compensation should be calculated from March 2001, when the service launched, to when Joosub first made his R47-million offer in January 2019 — 18 years.