By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Gauteng High Court has dismissed an urgent application by Black Rock Mining to freeze a portion of Nkosana Kenneth Makate’s Vodacom settlement.
Black Rock Mining company claims that they backed Makate in his legal bid to be compensated for his Please Call Me invention by Vodacom.
In the court papers, the former director of the mining company Errol Elsdon stated that they had raised and applied R4.39 million in funding for Makate’s case against Vodacom, but a conflict with his attorneys caused them to be sidelined.
“Of this, R2.4 million was paid to Stemela & Lubbe attorneys in respect of fees disbursements, with the balance applied to counsel, expert witnesses and litigation expenses, “Elsdon stated.
Elsdon alleged that these very attorneys they had appointed, Stemela & Lubbe Inc., had plotted to sideline him and Black Rock.
He said that the late Chris Schoeman, who brought him into the case, and Wilna Lubbe of Stemela & Lubbe, were the main protagonists behind these attempts.
Elsdon said they had orchestrated for Makate to terminate the funding agreement by sending letters to that effect through Hahn & Hahn Attorneys.
In his responding affidavit, Makate explained that Elsdon’s claim about Schoeman’s deathbed confession was hearsay at best and inaccurate.
According to Makate, he took advice from Reinard Michau, one of the advocates on his team, regarding which lawyers to appoint to cancel the original funding agreement.
Makate said he instructed Hahn & Hahn and no one else. He also said that he made an affidavit to this effect in 2016, which Elsdon is aware of.
“I am not sure on what basis he can say that it was Schoeman who instructed Hahn & Hahn,” he said.
Key to the case between Elsdon and Makate is whether the funding agreement with Black Rock was cancelled.
On Monday (8 December 2025), Judge Don Mahon of the Joburg High Court dismissed an urgent application by Black Rock Mining.
The law does not prevent a litigant from using lawfully acquired funds for lawful purposes merely because another party asserts a contractual claim to a portion of them,” ruled Judge Mahon.
“I am accordingly of the view that the applicant has failed to establish an intention to dissipate, or a reasonable apprehension that the settlement proceeds will be dissipated. The harm it fears is financial and capable of redress in ordinary proceedings. Without evidence of dissipation or irreparable harm, the application cannot meet the requirements of urgency or interim interdictory relief.”
The threat of Makate dissipating funds cannot be separated from the matter of urgency, which was also found not to exist.
Makate’s settlement with Vodacom remains subject to a non-disclosure agreement, but a review of Vodacom’s half year results to September 2025 point to a one-off cost of anywhere between R353 million and R748 million for the invention.
This is based on a downward revision in the expected earnings per share range for Vodacom due to the settlement.
The dispute is not yet over – it will now go to arbitration to determine how much Makate received from Black Rock, and whether it has a legal claim to any of his winnings.