Communications minister deletes tweet attacking Vodacom

The minister of communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, apparently fed up with the “please call me” saga between telecommunications giant Vodacom and former Vodacom employee Nkosana Kenneth Makate, had lashed out at the telecoms operator on Monday.

This came after Gauteng MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi took to Twitter to call on the masses to stand by Makate in his ongoing battle with Vodacom.

“We need to stand by Nkosana ‘Please Call Me’ Makate against this bully called @Vodacom, pay him by month end or face the wrath of the nation. How dare do you even disrespect court decisions #VodaPayHim” wrote Lesufi on Twitter.

Ndabeni-Abrahams then wrote: “Just shut up Vodacom and do the right thing ‘Talk to Makate’ instead of this poor PR stunt. Don’t talk to us until you have reached a settlement with him and his team.”

Image: Twitter

The telecoms giant responded and labelled claims that Vodacom was disrespecting the decision of courts “false and ill-informed”.

The minister has since deleted the tweet.

She initially attempted to justify the tweet by responding to users’ criticism. By mid-afternoon on Monday, Twitter reported the tweet as “unavailable”.

This came after false reports that Vodacom had finally paid Makate as per the Constitutional Court ruling that Makate must be compensated by Vodacom for his involvement in the invention of Please Call Me.

“I haven’t reached any deal with Vodacom, I was dumped with some determination that the deal was done. We are reviewing that and we will be taking it up further,” Makate reportedly said.

According to a Vodacom spokesperson, the group CEO, Shameel Joosub, along with Vodacom’s lawyers, met with Makate’s legal representation to convey Joosub’s decision as per the Constitutional Court order.

Due to the confidentiality agreement in place, the amount cannot be disclosed.

Vodacom claimed they would transfer the funds as soon as they received Makate’s bank account details.

– Background reporting, Kaunda Selisho. Compiled by Charles Cilliers

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