Vodacom made billions in revenue from the Please Call Me service. Image: Trevor Snapp Please Call Me inventor Kenneth Makate has rejected arbitration with former legal funder Black Rock Mining, which is seeking to recover 40% of his payout from Vodacom. Though Makate’s settlement with Vodacom is the subject of a non-disclosure agreement, the company’s half-year results to September 2025 point to a one-off cost of anywhere between R353 million and R748 million for the invention.
Based on these figures, Black Rock Mining’s claim of 40% is potentially worth between R141 million and R299 million, and it has no intention of letting that slide. Vodacom made billions of rands in revenue from the Please Call Me service, which allows someone without airtime to request a callback via SMS. In correspondence seen by Moneyweb, Black Rock Mining’s attorney Sinen Mnguni says his client’s claim against Makate is the subject of a funding agreement under which any disputes must be referred to arbitration.
“We will proceed with or without you,” Mnguni has told Makate’s legal team. The funding agreement was signed in 2011 by Makate and then Black Rock Mining director Christiaan Schoeman. Makate reportedly received R4.3 million in legal funding over a period of years, some of it in cash.
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The exact amount will be verified through arbitration, says Black Rock Mining’s representative Errol Elsdon. Makate insists the funding agreement has been cancelled, and Black Rock Mining has waived any rights it had to his Vodacom winnings after another company, Raining Men Trade, entered the picture as the nominated funding entity. Makate says his signature was forged on the Raining Men Trade agreement. British Virgin Islands company Black Rock Mining was deregistered in 2014 and was only revived again in January 2021, soon after Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub made an offer of R47 million for Please Call Me.
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