The SCA appears to be moving with speed to hear the dispute over compensation between 'Please Call Me' inventor Nkosana Makate and Vodacom.

As previously reported, the matter was referred back to the SCA last month by the Constitutional Court, which found that Vodacom was not afforded a fair hearing as its evidence was not considered.

TimesLIVE has learnt that the SCA registrar last week alerted the parties' legal counsel about the Court President Justice Mahube Molemela's ‘intention of expediting its finalisation, subject to both parties' co-operation’.

In the communique to the parties' legal counsel, the court invited the parties to agree on the filing of the record, heads of arguments and indicate the estimated duration of oral arguments.

The note also stated that the parties have to choose two date options on which their counsel would be available between 1 and 30 November, the court's fourth term of the year.

Parties were urged to respond before tomorrow.

‘I am happy with the SCA prioritising this matter as it has been dragging on for 25 years and (has been) in our courts for more than 18 years,’ Makate said.

Vodacom declined to comment on this development.

TimesLIVE reports that the protracted legal battle, which has played out in multiple courts including two rounds in both the SCA and the apex court for decades, is now centred on what would be fair compensation for Makate's lucrative idea.

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub made a R47m settlement offer to Makate six years ago for his idea, which Makate rejected and successfully appealed in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) before the matter found itself before the SCA.

The SCA ordered Vodacom to pay Makate between 5% and 7.5% of the total voice revenue generated by the Please Call Me service over 18 years from March 2001, plus interest.

Full TimesLIVE report