Mobile network Vodacom has announced an out-of-court settlement with Nkosana Makate, ending an 18-year legal dispute over the “Please Call Me” idea.
The Vodacom Board approved the agreement, and the matter has been formally withdrawn from the courts. The financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but the amount has been included in Vodacom’s financial results for the six-month period ending September 2025.
The “Please Call Me” feature, which allows users without airtime to send a message requesting a call back, became a widely used service in South Africa. Makate, who invented the concept, first claimed in 2007 that Vodacom had reneged on a verbal agreement to compensate him.
The legal battle reached the Constitutional Court in 2016, which initially ordered the two parties to negotiate a settlement. After a proposed offer was rejected, the case continued through various courts. A 2023 ruling had ordered Vodacom to pay Makate a share of the service’s revenue, but that decision was later appealed.
With this new agreement, the lengthy legal process is now concluded.