Please don't call me

DUCKING: MAKATE TRYING TO 'DISCLAIM HIS LIABILITIES' – LEGAL FUNDER

- Ciaran Ryan

DISPUTE. Black Rock Mining seeks to secure 40% it claims under the funding agreement, not to freeze Makate's other assets. Picture: Supplied

(Supplied)

Please Call Me inventor Kenneth Makate heads to court this week to defend a claim by litigation funder Black Rock Mining that a freeze should be placed on 40% of his reported R700 million payout from Vodacom after nearly two decades of legal wrangling.

The High Court in Johannesburg is being asked to prevent Makate from distributing 40% of his Vodacom payout pending the outcome of arbitration hearings that will establish whether Black Rock is entitled to that portion.

Makate has filed a supplementary affidavit in response to an urgent application brought by Black Rock earlier this month before the high court.

In it, Makate argues that any claim Black Rock may have has prescribed (run out of time), since the funder should have launched proceedings within three years of Vodacom's initial offer of R47 million for the Please Call Me invention back in 2019.