Johannesburg – The long-running legal dispute between “Please Call Me” inventor Nkosana Makate and Vodacom has officially ended, with both parties reaching an out-of-court settlement.
Vodacom confirmed on Wednesday that its board approved the settlement on 4 November 2025, bringing finality to the case after more than a decade of litigation.
The company noted that the agreement had already been factored into its interim financial results for the six months ending 30 September 2025 but did not disclose the settlement amount.
“Shareholders are referred to the announcements released on SENS on 31 July 2025, 7 February 2024, 28 February 2024 and 27 August 2024 in respect of the Please Call Me (‘PCM’) matter,” Vodacom said in a message to shareholders.
BREAKING NEWS | Vodacom and Nkosana Makate, the Please Call Me inventor, have reached an out-of-court settlement after 17 years. The settlement amount has not been disclosed. pic.twitter.com/67aAQjxf0K
— SABC News (@SABCNews) November 5, 2025
“Shareholders are hereby advised that on 4 November 2025, the Vodacom Board approved a settlement agreement, and the matter was settled by the parties out of court. The parties are glad that finality has been reached in this regard.
“The settlement has been accounted for in the Group’s interim results for the six-month period ended 30 September 2025, subsequent to the publication of a trading statement on SENS on 31 October 2025 related to those interim results.”
The legal saga began after Makate demanded fair compensation for his idea, which allows users to send free “Please Call Me” messages. In 2022, the Pretoria High Court ruled that he was entitled to 5% of Vodacom’s total voice revenue from the service between 2001 and 2021, rejecting the company’s initial offer of R47 million.
Vodacom’s appeals to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and later the Constitutional Court were unsuccessful, with the courts ordering a recalculation of Makate’s payout based on 5% to 7.5% of revenue.
As part of the final settlement, Vodacom withdrew its appeal from the SCA and abandoned the earlier High Court judgment, closing one of South Africa’s most closely watched intellectual property battles.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
