"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," Vodacom said in a statement on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Unfortunately for observers invested in the outcome of the financial agreement, the settlement amount has not been disclosed at this stage; however, it will be accounted for in Vodacom's financial results for the six months to the end of September, which will be published on 10 November, the mobile giant said.
According to Reuters, there was no immediate comment from Makate.
The 'Please call me' idea man won the first round of the protracted legal dispute in 2016 when the Constitutional Court ruled that Vodacom was bound by an agreement made by former director of product development, Philip Geissler, to compensate Makate for his concept.
They were ordered to negotiate a settlement; however Makate rejected a R47m offer from Vodacom, believing he was owed billions. This triggered a second round of legal battles.
Both the High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal had ruled in favour of Makate in this regard, with the SCA in 2024 ordering the telco to compensate Makate between 5% and 7.5% of the revenue generated by the 'Please call me' service over 18 years. Analysis revealed this sum to be between R29bn-R55bn.
The case was escalated to the Constitutional Court (for the second time) as Vodacom appealed the SCA ruling. Here, the company won a partial victory as the ConCourt found major flaws in the SCA's ruling that Vodacom's offer was inequitable. The apex court ordered the case be returned to the SCA to be heard by a new panel of judges, and Makate was required to pay Vodacom's legal costs in the matter.
