“Please Call Me” inventor Nkosana Makate has launched a new court bid aimed at proving Black Rock Mining was never a genuine operating company.
This, as he aims to kill the British Virgin Islands company’s claim to 40% of his confidential settlement with Vodacom.
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.
“They never existed. Except on paper,” Makate says, arguing it could not have funded his litigation if it was not a legitimate operating company.
Makate’s latest court action follows a December Johannesburg High Court ruling that dismissed Black Rock’s urgent attempt to freeze the settlement money he received from Vodacom while it pursued its claimed 40% share through arbitration.
The court found there was no immediate danger the funds would be dissipated and that Black Rock could not claim financial harm over a matter it had not yet won.
‘It’s fake’
Makate is now arguing that proving Black Rock never genuinely operated as a legitimate funding entity would destroy its attempt to take him to arbitration to secure 40% of the settlement reached with Vodacom last year.
The discovery process in the latest litigation will focus on forcing Black Rock and related entities to produce financial statements, bank accounts and proof of payments allegedly made to fund his case against Vodacom, says Makate.
“Bank statements of that company don’t exist. We need to check their financials. We need to check their credit cards. We need to see money being transferred to me and paid with a company that does not have bank accounts,” he says.
Black Rock’s lawyer, Sinenhlanhla Mnguni from SN Mnguni Inc, tells ITWeb: “Our client’s representatives have instructed us to defend the matter vigorously as they remain steadfast in the assertion that they have a valid claim against Mr Makate emanating from the funding agreement concluded between the parties.”
Back and forth
Makate has argued in court papers that the funding agreement was cancelled in 2015, a position Black Rock disputes. Black Rock cites a 2020 arbitration ruling which, it says, found that the funding agreement had never been cancelled.
There is also no basis for Black Rock to pursue the claim because the company was deregistered between 2014 and 2021 before later being restored, says Makate. He also disputes the extent of the funding allegedly provided, arguing Black Rock contributed little more than around R8 000 in 2014.
Black Rock disputes this version in court papers filed in November, saying a total of R4.4 million “was raised and applied to fund the litigation”. It says this includes R2.4 million paid to Makate’s lawyers, Stemela & Lubbe, for fees and disbursements, with the balance spent on counsel, expert witnesses and litigation expenses.
Black Rock representative Errol Elsdon says: “It is therefore undisputed that Black Rock became a party to the funding agreement, and acquired the rights and obligations as provided for in terms thereof.
“Had it not been for my efforts and the funding raised in terms of the funding agreement, Mr Makate’s litigation against Vodacom would never have progressed and there would have been no settlement.”
While Vodacom has not disclosed the settlement amount, Peter Takaendesa, chief investment officer at Mergence Investment Managers, has estimated it at around R660 million based on the decline in earnings per share disclosed around the time of the settlement.
Makate first proposed the Please Call Me concept in 2000, with Vodacom launching the service a year later without compensating him. The matter was ultimately settled confidentially last year.
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