Please Call Me millions: The Black Rock enigma

By Nicola Mawson, Contributing journalist

Johannesburg, 01 Sept 2026

The Please Call Me case went through four courts before eventually being settled. (Image made with GenAI)

Errol Elsdon, the man behind various court cases claiming he is contractually entitled to 40% of Nkosana Makate’s Please Call Me ‘winnings’, for years represented two different companies, was absent from the public story for almost a decade and then reemerged as Black Rock Mining’s representative.

Black Rock’s claim traces back to a 2011 funding agreement between Makate, and disbarred and deceased advocate Chris Schoeman, who agreed to provide the cash to enable Makate to fight Vodacom in his personal capacity and that of a company to be nominated.

(The cast of characters provides details of key role players, with next week’s piece tracing two early funders who seemingly dropped out of sight.)

Multiple court papers find that Black Rock was nominated in July 2013 to fund Makate’s 18-year fight and, in turn, this entitled it to 40% of any winnings should Makate win. Makate argues the funders provided less than R8 000, while Errol Elsdon – the current face of Black Rock – claims he held up his end of the bargain when he provided R4.39 million.

Yet, Elsdon didn’t showcase Black Rock in the media between 2013 and 2016, instead representing variously Sterling Rand and Raining Men as Makate’s funder before he vanished from public view for nine years. Black Rock only made its appearance towards the end of last year, shortly after Makate’s settlement with Vodacom for an undisclosed amount.

Now you see it…

As far back as August 2013, Mail & Guardian refers to Elsdon as the founder of Sterling Rand while ITWeb also quotes him as representing Sterling Rand in May 2016. In this role, Elsdon told Bruce Whitfield on CNBC Africa in May 2016 that Sterling Rand was funding the matter “all the way… up to the Constitutional Court”.

However, media reports show that, by June 2016, Elsdon – alongside early funder Tracey Röscher – was also heading up a company called Raining Men. Elsdon and Röscher are also listed as directors of Raining Men in Companies and Intellectual Property records from as far back as 2014.

(Raining Men’s role in this convoluted matter is unpacked in The ghost in the deal as well as Accusations fly.)

After mid-2016, Elsdon seems to disappear from the court of public opinion relating to Please Call Me, although he remains publicly active in unrelated litigation as Sterling Rand’s director.

Tracing the various companies Errol Elsdon represented shows three different entities. (Graphic made with GenAI)

Court papers, meanwhile, have a different narrative. For example, a London case shows that Elsdon also sought funding from Bermuda-based Global Distressed Alpha Fund III as Black Rock’s director in 2013 (see: The Bermuda Triangle).

In addition, arbitrator advocate Andrew Mabena, tasked in 2015 with determining whether Black Rock or Raining Men – now associated with Schoeman – held the rights under the funding agreement, ultimately ruled in Black Rock’s favour in 2020. Elsdon is currently relying on this finding in his bid for 40% of Makate’s win.

Elsdon claims the Please Call Me matter was settled for R1 billion, while Peter Takaendesa, chief investment officer at Mergence Investment Managers, worked out a value of R660 million.

Now you don’t

Mabena, however, tackled Elsdon on his claims that he represented Sterling Rand. He writes in 2020: “When confronted with newspaper articles where he [Elsdon] and Röscher stated that another company Sterling Rand was funding the case, he said they were ‘showboating’ to promote Sterling Rand.”

ITWeb could not find any further court papers linking Elsdon with Black Rock until last November, a timeframe that coincided with Makate’s settlement with Vodacom, when he reappeared on the scene claiming he was owed 40% of Makate’s winnings, having funded the inventor’s battle against the telecoms company.

(The Vodacom case across four courts and seven rulings is unpacked in detail in: The data that didn’t exist.)

Errol Elsdon’s evidence in a December 2025 matter was said to be “troubling”. (Photograph by Nicola Mawson)

In the latest legal twist, after Elsdon took to the courts to try enforce his 40% claim, Makate questions both Elsdon’s authority to act on Black Rock’s behalf and the existence of the company, which had been deregistered in the British Virgin Islands in 2014 before being resurrected in December 2020.

Makate is, in part, relying on this deregistration to prove that it ceased to exist. Elsdon disputes this, arguing that, under British Virgin Islands law, Black Rock’s restoration to the register means it is legally treated as though it had never been deregistered.

Yet, Mabena records Elsdon in 2020 as having “confirmed that Black Rock was finally deregistered in the British Virgin Islands on 30 April 2014 and that the company as [an] entity had ceased to exist as from date of such deregistration”.

‘Troubling’ findings

Elsdon’s integrity was also queried in December 2025, when Johannesburg High Court Judge Don Mahon handed down a ruling against Elsdon, deciding that his bid to freeze Makate’s winnings was not urgent.

This was because there was no danger of the cash being “dissipated” and Black Rock couldn’t claim financial harm regarding a matter it hadn’t yet won as Elsdon – at that stage – aimed to take Makate to arbitration.

Mahon recorded in his judgement that inconsistencies in Elsdon’s affidavits were “troubling”.

In court papers, Elsdon describes himself as having signed a resolution “as director” of Black Rock, while having earlier stated in the founding affidavit that he was a former director. He also stated he was “duly authorised on behalf of Black Rock to instruct attorneys, depose to affidavits, and generally to do all things necessary to prosecute this application to finalisation”.

Where in the world is Daniel?

Makate challenges a Black Rock resolution purportedly passed on 11 November 2025 by Marinos Daniel as its sole director, which authorised Elsdon “to sign all affidavits and documents and do all things that may be necessary” to bring the application.

The inventor also points to Elsdon’s statement that he had signed the resolution “as director of Black Rock” despite the document identifying Daniel as sole director and Elsdon having already described himself as a former director.

Intch.org has a person calling themselves Errol Elsdon, also CEO of Petrosaf, saying on Daniel’s profile page that “Marinos is a co-director of Black Rock Mining Ltd”. There is also a LinkedIn profile listing an Errol Elsdon as chairman of Petrosaf containing no further details.

Daniel states on the page: “As Marinos Daniel, I have successfully established myself as a director and attorney.” Daniel did not appear in court, which Judge Mahon says was “unsatisfactory”.

Marinos Daniel has been cited as being a Black Rock director. (Graphic: Nicola Mawson | Intch.org)

Elsdon’s assertion that he was authorised to act for Black Rock could not simply be accepted at face value, Makate argues. “Black Rock chose not to produce any evidence on oath as to the identity of Daniel and his alleged office as its sole director or chairman… This document is not worth the paper it is printed on.”

However, in a June 2026 press release, Elsdon describes himself as “the businessman and former director of Black Rock Mining who helped fund the case” against Vodacom.

Elsdon also identifies himself as representing Black Rock when he states that “I helped a man who had nothing turn a stalled and unfunded claim into a landmark result… I ask only that Black Rock be held to the agreement that made it possible… Black Rock asks for nothing it did not bargain for, and nothing other than what Makate himself agreed to.”