South Africa’s Constitutional Court ordered telecoms operator Vodacom to enter into compensation negotiation with its former employee who claims he invested the ‘please-call-me’ service that allows users who don’t have airtime to send a call-back text to anyone on the network.

According to a MoneyWeb report, Judge Chris Jafta asked the telecommunication giant on Tuesday to consider compensating Nkosana Makate for the innovation and said that is these negotiations failed the matter should be sent to Vodacom’s CEO who should determine “reasonable compensation”.

“The stance taken by Vodacom [to not compensate Makate] is unfortunate. It was unethical for Vodacom to refuse compensation. Not compensating leaves a sour taste in the mouth,” Jafta told the court.

As a trainee accountant at Vodacom in 2000 Makate says he came up with the idea that would allow customers to send a free text message to anyone on the network asking them to call them back.

Makate shared the idea with Philip Geissler, who at the time was the head of product development at Vodacom, and they had a verbal revenue sharing agreement that would allow Makate to get a percentage of the income generated from the innovation.

Vodacom implemented the idea in 2001 and it became an instant hit.

The telco however refused to honor the agreement on ground that it was against company policy and practice to offer employees additional remuneration and enter any revenue sharing agreements on innovations developed during their service to firm.

“Given Mr Geissler’s position at Vodacom; the organisational structure within which he exercised his power; and his role in the process which had to be followed before a new product could be introduced at Vodacom, the judgment held that Mr Geissler had ostensible authority to bind Vodacom,” Fin24 quoted Judge Jafta saying in the ruling.

“The consequence was that Mr Geissler had ostensible authority to conclude a contract with Mr Makate and Vodacom was estopped from denying that authority. It was bound by the contract Mr Geissler concluded on its behalf,” the summary of the judgment noted.”

In March, the constitutional court ruled that President Jacob Zuma should pay back a portion of public money spent on contentious security upgrades at his rural Nkandla home.