Cool as a cucumber, multimillionaire Makate works on

How would you celebrate if you had just secured a deal worth hundreds of millions of rands?

“Please Call Me” inventor Nkosana Makate, 49, marked the occasion this week by submitting two reports at work. There was no popping of champagne, no big party, no Caribbean cruise booking, and no visit to a luxury car showroom. Makate told the Sunday Times there would not be any major changes, as he wants to live a normal life.

“I am still working. Yesterday I was working very hard delivering reports and doing presentations. Until I decide otherwise, I am still locked in,” he said.

The senior accountant at the South African Local Government Association (Salga) said he was “still absorbing” the landmark deal he signed with Vodacom following a two-decade David and Goliath legal battle with the telecoms giant. The agreement was approved by Vodacom shareholders on Tuesday.

While the value of the deal has not been made public, there is speculation that it could range between R350m and R900m. Makate initially sought a R9bn payout, and rejected a previous offer of R47m six years ago. The deal, signed last Sunday, came just two weeks before the next scheduled court showdown, which was scheduled for November 18.

Makate said the finalisation of the standoff had “brought some relief from the endless court battles ... It is a significant moment because it came after a long battle.”

Makate, who signed a non-disclosure agreement on the payout, has seen some of the speculation on social media. “People can guess ... I will stick to my end of the bargain [regarding non-disclosure],” he said.

There are no penalties, it’s handshakes and a ‘your word is your bond’ kinda arrangement. My word is my bond

—  Nkosana Makate

Is he tight-lipped due to penalties associated with breaking a confidentiality clause? “There are no penalties, it’s handshakes and a ‘your word is your bond’ kinda arrangement. My word is my bond,” he said.

He’s also hoping that Vodacom, a listed company, will stick to the agreement in that regard. “I hope they don’t [divulge the settlement] because that’s the promise that they have made.”

There is speculation that the final details of the deal will be included in Vodacom’s interim results, which are due out on Tuesday.

Looking back, Makate says his lowest times during the legal battles were when he lost in the Johannesburg high court in July 2014 and his appeal was subsequently rejected by the Supreme Court of Appeals in Bloemfontein. “The experience gained on this journey is not something you can get through formal education.”

The highlight of the experience was knowing that it played a role in the country’s jurisprudence, which will be used for many years to come. “The case will benefit many people in the battles. That is what I bequeath to South Africa.”

He recalls the heated discussions among the members of his legal team over the years. “The team was diverse, the fights and disagreements were very enriching,” he laughed.

He says the battle with Vodacom has taught him lessons he wouldn’t have learnt anywhere else. “There are many lessons: negotiations are an art; learning how to absorb losses and contextualising them; the ability to readjust and look at other aspects of your life.”

For the immediate future Makate, a football fan who supports Orlando Pirates and Manchester United, will keep to his familiar routine. He says gym is his biggest hobby.

Makate joined Vodacom by chance. During school holidays at the end of 1994, after writing matric, he saw an advertisement for a trainee programme for accountants in a newspaper in his uncle’s spaza shop in Ramakonopi, Katlehong, on the East Rand. At that time, he had applied to Wits Tech (now the University of Johannesburg), but he joined Vodacom in 1995.

In November 2000 he pitched his proposal to his bosses. The idea was born out of his frustration that the phone he had bought his then girlfriend — now his wife — was essentially useless without airtime.

“Please Call Me” took less than three months to develop and hit the market in February 2001.

Vodacom said this week that “both parties are glad that finality has been reached”.