Just a week after Nkosana Makate and Vodacom finally resolved their 20-year “Please Call Me” saga, a new claimant has emerged, demanding 40 percent of the undisclosed settlement—potentially worth hundreds of millions of rand. Black Rock Mining, a little-known entity registered in the British Virgin Islands and unrelated to the American investment giant BlackRock, has instructed lawyers to assert its claim, threatening court action within 30 days if the funds are not secured.
According to News24, the company cites a 2011 funding agreement signed when Makate’s legal battle seemed financially insurmountable. The dispute centers on a memorandum signed between Makate and South African businessman Christiaan Schoeman, who represented an unnamed corporate entity that later became Black Rock Mining. Under the agreement, the company was to cover all litigation costs in exchange for 40 percent of any eventual award.
Black Rock’s lawyers insist the contract remains binding and have formally demanded that Makate’s legal team transfer the funds immediately or secure them in a trust pending litigation. As reported by Moneyweb, this move has blindsided Makate’s long-standing counsel, who argue that the agreement was lawfully terminated a decade ago.
Wilna Lubbe, a senior advocate representing Makate since the case’s early days, dismissed the claim as baseless, stating that the funding arrangement was rescinded well before the Constitutional Court’s landmark 2019 ruling that forced Vodacom to negotiate compensation. Court papers from a 2018 Gauteng High Court hearing, cited in Business Day, show Makate testifying that his lawyers canceled the deal in 2015 after securing alternative funding. At that time, Schoeman, then linked to another entity called Raining Men Trade, contested the cancellation, leading to the current standoff.
Vodacom, which disclosed the settlement as a one-off exceptional item in its interim results, declined to comment on the new dispute or reveal the payout amount. However, analysts estimate the total exceeded R700 million, as the company flagged a material earnings adjustment significantly larger than previous provisions. As detailed in Fin24, this charge contributed to headline earnings per share rising only 32 percent despite strong operational growth, highlighting the settlement’s substantial scale.
The British Virgin Islands company’s aggressive stance has raised eyebrows in legal circles, with experts questioning the practicality of enforcing the agreement given its age and prior judicial references to its termination. Sinen Mnguni, Black Rock’s attorney, dismissed suggestions of invalidity, insisting that documentary evidence proves the contract remains valid. Correspondence seen by Daily Maverick reveals that Mnguni warned that failure to comply would trigger urgent interdict proceedings to freeze 40 percent of the funds wherever they are held.
For Makate, who rose from a junior Vodacom finance clerk to a national folk hero through his David-versus-Goliath fight, this development threatens to delay his hard-won compensation. Sources close to the matter indicate he received an initial payment last week, with the remaining balance structured over several months—making any ring-fencing order particularly disruptive. As noted in IOL, Makate has previously expressed his intention to use the funds to establish educational trusts and support disadvantaged communities, plans now potentially complicated by the offshore claim.
This saga underscores the complex legacy of high-stakes litigation funding in South Africa, where third-party backers often secure substantial percentages in exchange for shouldering risk. Similar disputes have arisen in mining rights cases and class actions, though few involve sums of this magnitude. Legal precedent favors properly documented cancellations, but Black Rock appears willing to test whether ambiguous wording or subsequent actions revived its entitlement.
As both sides prepare for what could become another protracted courtroom drama, Makate’s triumph risks being overshadowed by new uncertainty. With Vodacom distancing itself from further involvement and Makate’s team vowing a robust defense, the coming weeks may determine whether the man who revolutionized budget communication in Africa finally secures his reward—or sees 40 percent vanish into Caribbean corporate obscurity.