Black Rock Mining is claiming 40% of the reported R700m from Vodacom for the Please Call Me invention. However, inventor Kenneth Makate says it is owed nothing. From Moneyweb.
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 Joburg 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.
The agreement to retain 40% of the Vodacom payout on Monday (17 November 2025) does not prevent Makate from disbursing the remaining 60%. The 40% – around R280 million – is to be held in the trust account of Stemela & Lubbe Inc, Makate’s attorneys, pending an urgent hearing on the merits of the case to be heard on 3 December 2025.
The agreement, which allows Makate to file a supplementary affidavit, will be made an order of court on Tuesday (18 November 2025). It will simultaneously be referred to arbitration, likely to be heard next month.
In a replying affidavit before the court, former BRM director Errol Elsdon provides further background to the history of the case. Makate’s attorney Wilna Lubbe was initially a partner with Elsdon in the litigation funding, and was paid an amount of £100 000 (about R1.5 million) into an account she nominated.
Makate, in his court papers, says he received a paltry R8 000 after an initial payment of R500 000 for litigation expenses in 2011.
The agreement between Makate and BRM allows for arbitration in the event of a dispute.
“I suspect that [Makate and his legal team] will resist attempts for an expeditious arbitration … I say so because [Lubbe], who was initially a partner with the applicant, changed course when the application against Vodacom was overwhelming – she effectively dumped the applicant,” deposes Elsdon.
Makate’s team has disputed BRM’s reliance on an agreement signed in 2011, and claimed Elsdon misrepresented that the funder had changed from BRM to Raining Men Trade. Makate says his signature was forged on that agreement and this was a fraud on the court. Makate also accused Elsdon, along with business associates Tracey Roscher and the late Christiaan Schoeman, of fraud and dishonesty.
Read:
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Vodacom in ‘Please Call Me’ out-of-court settlement with Makate
These accusations are ”vehemently denied”, says Eldson in his court papers. The matter was previously decided by arbitration and Makate cannot now relitigate matters already settled.
The arbitrators previously ruled that BRM’s nomination was valid.
Elsdon also rejects Makate’s claim that very little funding was received. An initial amount of R500 000 was paid to Stemela & Lubbe in 2011, with further amounts being paid thereafter.
“The evidence will be led in the appropriate forum that the applicant made payments to other people nominated by Ms Lubbe. The discovery process will prove this and on a number of occasions, these were cash payments,” says Elsdon.
“The allegation (by Makate) that no funding was provided after December 2014 is misleading, as the bulk had already been advanced at that stage. Without this funding, Mr Makate would not have been able to pursue his claim at all.”
BRM says it is prepared to provide reasonable security for costs, as requested by Makate. Makate asked for this as there was no evidence that BRM had assets in SA or elsewhere in the world. Security for costs is usually demanded where there is a fear that the other party will not be able to pay its legal bills should it lose the case.
Makate’s claim that the matter has prescribed (run out of time) has no merit, as the settlement agreement was only made in early November, according to BRM.
