The Vodacom Please Call Me case that has been dragging on for years will resume in court on Tuesday, reports Sunday Times.
Former Vodacom employee Nkosana Makate-Nhlapho is continuing his battle against the mobile operator in court this week to win recognition and compensation, claiming he was the brains behind the lucrative return-call concept.
The newspaper reports on the day Vodacom launched the service, it registered 140 000 messages and today roughly 38 million Please Call Me messages are sent daily.
Sterling Rand Litigation Fund, who is funding Makate-Nhlapho's legal battle, calculates that Vodacom may have made as much as R45 billion from the service since it launched. Makate-Nhlapho believes he is entitled to at least 15%.
This week, Makate-Nhlapho reportedly said he feared from the outset that Vodacom's legal strategy would include trying to drown him in paperwork, possibly in the hope that he would abandon the case.
Vodacom reportedly argues that the rights to anything developed or produced by its employees belong to the company.
Makate-Nhlapho disputes this as he says the development of the Please Call Me concept fell outside his normal responsibilities as employee.
Sunday Times quotes Vodacom spokesperson Richard Boorman as saying the case is very complex, and the company will not comment to avoid prejudicing the outcome of the trial.
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