‘Please Call Me’ creator Nkosana Makate says Black Rock Mining’s claim that he owes it money is fraudulent, and there is no basis for arbitration to secure 40% of his settlement with Vodacom, South Africa’s second-largest mobile operator.
In December, British Virgin Islands-registered Black Rock Mining lost its battle to urgently freeze the money Makate won, based on a deal it says it struck to help fund the “Please Call Me’ creator’s court battle to the tune of R5 million.
Now, Black Rock Mining – not associated with a mining company of the same name listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange – has started arbitration proceedings to secure the money it says it is owed.
This news is contained in various media reports published yesterday, which are based on information Black Rock Mining seems to have shared with these publications.
ITWeb approached Errol Elsdon, who has often represented the funding vehicle in the media, for comment. He referred us to Black Rock Mining’s lawyer, Sinen Mnguni, who was unavailable.
ITWeb tried three times to call Mnguni, but his phone returned an automated message saying the subscriber was not available. Mnguni does not seem to be available on WhatsApp and ITWeb was unable to locate an e-mail address for him.
ITWeb reverted to Elsdon for assistance, to no avail.
No agreement
Makate told ITWeb: “There is no basis of the arbitration when there is no agreement in place. We shall deal with that accordingly.”
The ‘Please Call Me’ creator added: “There is no agreement; that was made clear before the High Court in December 2025. The whole thing is a fraud from inception.”
The Johannesburg High Court’s ruling against Black Rock was based on its finding that the funds didn’t urgently need to be frozen because there was no danger of the cash being “dissipated” and Black Rock couldn’t claim financial harm regarding a matter it hadn’t won yet.
Judge D Mahon recorded in his judgement that inconsistencies in Elsdon’s affidavits were “troubling”. Elsdon described himself in his replying affidavit as having signed a resolution “as director” of Black Rock, despite earlier stating in the founding affidavit that he was a former director.
The current director, according to recently updated websites filed in the British Virgin Islands, is “Marinos Daniel”, who did not provide any evidence to the court, which Mahon said was “unsatisfactory”.
Makate has also argued that “there is no evidence under oath that he [Marinos] holds that office”.
The settlement
After a two-decade-long battle, Makate settled his case against Vodacom for an undisclosed amount in December – but only after the matter went as far as the Constitutional Court.
Makate’s argument was based on a contract he said he had with Vodacom that he would earn a share of the revenue Vodacom earned from the innovation.
Makate had proposed the innovation in 2000, with Vodacom launching it a year later without compensating him. Last February, the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered Vodacom to pay him between 5% and 7.5% of the total voice revenue generated by the ‘Please Call Me’ service.
While Vodacom hasn’t disclosed the settlement amount, Peter Takaendesa, chief investment officer at Mergence Investment Managers, estimates it at around R660 million. This is based on earnings per share declining from 500c in a trading update ahead of the settlement and the reported 467c considering shares in issue.
Vodacom indicated there was already a one-off cost for the settlement in its interim results to the end of September, for which it had already accounted, Takaendesa explains.
Funding web
ITWeb’s December investigation into which companies funded Makate’s legal fight shows Black Rock Mining is not the only company to say it funded the 20-year court battle.
Black Rock Mining, or associated companies such as Raining Men and Sterling Rand Litigation Fund, have repeatedly said they funded Makate’s fight against Vodacom. Black Rock was deregistered as a company in the British Virgin Islands between 2014 and 2021.
In the middle of 2013, a company called Global Distressed Alpha Capital (GDAC) invested £250 000 (at the time R5.6 million) into Black Rock to enable it to fund Makate’s case.
That investment later became a matter of dispute as GDAC sought to have its investments returned in both South African and UK high courts. ITWeb could not find any resultant judgements.
Representing a company called Sterling Rand Litigation Fund – another entity associated with Black Rock – Elsdon told Bruce Whitfield on CNBC Africa nine years ago that the company was funding the matter “all the way… up to the Constitutional Court”.
It’s complicated
Complicating the matter is the fact that a 2018 judgement casts doubt as to whether there was a funding deal at all, supporting Makate’s cancellation claim.
Judge NB Tuchten in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria recorded seven years ago that Christiaan Schoeman – at that stage apparently representing Black Rock-associate company Raining Men – sent an e-mail in December 2014 concerning the deal’s status.
In the e-mail, Schoeman states “there is no agreement between Makate and Raining Men and they are not entitled to any rights under the Funding Agreement... I am the only person who holds those rights, until I nominate a company in my place.”
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