Please Call Me funder to sue Makate for defamation

The ongoing Please Call Me saga took another twist this week with news that Nkosana Makate is to be sued for defamation by his early litigation funder, Errol Elsdon.

Elsdon says he will not be branded a criminal for honouring a contract and has instructed his lawyers, SN Mnguni Attorneys, to proceed with a defamation case against Makate.

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The matter has already sparked several court actions between the parties, with Elsdon claiming 40% of Makate’s winnings based on a 2011 agreement. Makate rejects this, alleging that his signature was forged on a key agreement between the parties.

“With the dispute over the proceeds now before the high court, that record will be examined in open court for the first time, and the public will see that this was never simply David against Goliath: that this ‘David’ was backed, from the outset, by a team of funders through Black Rock,” Elsdon said in a statement.

“I was willing to be called many things when I agreed to fund this case,” he adds.

“A criminal was never one of them. I will not be branded a criminal for honouring a contract, and I will answer that accusation where it belongs: in court.”

The case was first brought to Elsdon and the late Christiaan Schoeman in 2011. The cause of action had to be reformulated, allowing the funding to be put in place to launch the litigation against Vodacom.

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“The funding was not one man’s money, and Black Rock was not one man’s pocket. The capital was raised from, and the risk shared among, a group of backers, together with arms-length institutional funding partners. A professional legal team was retained, in part on a contingency basis.

“The funding was provided from the outset of the reworked case, to launch the action, and it was advanced entirely at risk: had the case failed, those who put up the money would have recovered nothing,” said Elsdon.

He also rejects Makate’s assertion that his claim for 40% of the winnings amounts to extortion.

“Extortion is a demand for something you have no right to. A funding agreement is the opposite: a contract, freely signed, under which those who take the risk share in the result.

“Asking to be held to the very terms that brought a claim to court is not a threat. It is how litigation finance works the world over. Without it, this claim, like many meritorious claims before it, would never have seen the light of day.”

Read:
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By bringing the matter before the courts, the public will be able to see for the first time how Makate was able to secure his settlement. It wasn’t Makate acting on his own, it was a team of funders that got him over the finish line, adds Elsdon.

“I helped a man who had nothing turn a stalled and unfunded claim into a landmark result. I ask only that Black Rock be held to the agreement that made it possible.

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“I will defend my name in court, and I am content for the truth to be decided on the documents and the evidence. Black Rock asks for nothing it did not bargain for, and nothing other than what Makate himself agreed to.”

Makate responds

Makate told Moneyweb he finds it strange that Elsdon wants to sue him for defamation, given the already established ruling by an arbitrator in the case that his signature had been forged on a key agreement between the parties.

“This fraud is [the] subject of a criminal case that [has been] pending for years, which the National Prosecuting Authority [NPA] needs to decide [whether] to prosecute or grant me a nolle prosequi [a decision not to prosecute, which would allow Makate to pursue a private prosecution].

“The Black Rock case now before the high court is about the perpetuation of fraud which was committed under [the nominated litigation funding entity] Raining Men.

“There is no need for Mr Elsdon to sue me, the fraud matter is already before the high court, assigned to Judge Lenyai. All he must now do is respond in person to those court papers as a respondent.”

Background

Last year, Makate received an undisclosed payout – believed to be around R750 million – for the Please Call Me service launched by Vodacom in 2001 while he was an employee. The service allows Vodacom customers without airtime to request a callback via SMS.

That November 2025 payout has since been the subject of ongoing legal disputes between Makate and his former litigation funder.

Black Rock Mining (BRM) says it funded Makate’s legal battles to the tune of R4.3 million and is entitled to 40% of any payout in terms of their agreement.

Makate, however, insists his signature was forged on a key agreement and has accused Elsdon and his co-funders – the late Christiaan Schoeman and Tracey Roscher – of dishonesty and fraud. The Please Call Me inventor at Vodacom also disputes that Elsdon or BRM funded his legal campaign in any meaningful way.

Read:
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In November last year, BRM filed an urgent application in the Johannesburg High Court to freeze 40% of the payout, though this was rejected by the court.

The matter was expected to go to arbitration, but Makate went on the legal offensive in May this year, asking the Pretoria High Court for a declaratory order that the funding agreement between the parties is void on the grounds of fraud.

He further escalated the matter in June this year by seeking a nolle prosequi certificate from the NPA for alleged forgery and fraud.