Makate holds back 40%

PLEASE CALL ME: AGREES TO RETAIN PART OF PAYOUT PENDING COURT HEARING

- Ciaran Ryan

DENIAL. Kenneth Makate vehemently rejects BRM's claim, accusing former director Errol Elsdon and his associates of fraud and dishonesty.

(@makate_nkosana via x)

Kenneth Makate and his legal team have agreed to retain 40% of the reported R700 million payout from Vodacom for the Please Call Me invention, which was the subject of nearly two decades of legal dispute.

Makate and Vodacom eventually settled earlier this month, but the legal battles continue. British Virgin Islands-based company Black Rock Mining (BRM) filed an urgent application last week in the Johannesburg High Court, claiming 40% of the payout on the basis of a 15-year-old agreement.

BRM claims it provided litigation funding to Makate in terms of an agreement signed in 2011.

Makate’s legal team, however, accused BRM and its erstwhile directors of fraud and claimed the original funding agreement had been cancelled.