Vodacom will have to agree to pay the inventor of the Please Call Me service a settlement this week or suffer a possible global backlash.
Protesters plan to march on Vodacom offices on Thursday, 31 January, demanding that Nkosana Makate is paid proper compensation.
The threat comes weeks after Makate called an offer by Vodacom “an insult”.
Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi gave the mobile service provider the deadline of 31 January.
“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?” Lesufi tweeted.
Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams also tweeted for Vodacom to “do the right thing”.
Makate has been battling for 18 years to get Vodacom to compensate him for his idea, which he took to the company’s product development team in the early 2000s when he worked for them.
In 2016, the Constitutional Court ruled that Vodacom had to begin negotiations with Makate for a reasonable payout.
Earlier this year, Vodacom made an offer that Makate rejected, saying he was consulting a legal team on how to take the matter forward.
“The Constitutional Court order does not require Mr. Makate to agree to the amount set by the group CEO as reasonable compensation in his role as a deadlock-breaking mechanism,” Vodacom spokesperson Bryon Kennedy said.
“Vodacom is ready and willing to pay as soon as the requisite bank details are made available by Mr Makate’s attorneys.”
The founder of the #Please Call me Movement, Modise Sekgothe, said the marches on 31 January would be supported by the ANC, the Black First Land First party and the EFF.