Alan Knott-Craig (born 8 May 1952,

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ), the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865–1 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

) is a retired South African former CEO of

Vodacom Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 55 million customers. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include n ...

(1996 - 2008) and

Cell C Cell C Limited (stylised as Cell ©) is as a private mobile operator based in Sandstone, South Africa. It was founded in November 2001 by Lambert Moloi. As of August 2019, the Company’s current CEO is Douglas Craigie Stevenson Douglas may re ...

(2012 - 2014).

Early life and career

Knott-Craig was born on 8 May 1952, Oudtshoorn, South Africa, where he spent his formative years. In 1974 he graduated in a Bachelor of Science degree from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

. His son, Alan Knott-Craig, was born in 1977. Prior to 1993 he was Senior General Manager of Mobile Communications at Telkom SA, before he moved to

. In 1996 he was appointed CEO of Vodacom. He held that position until he stepped down in 2008. He also served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of Murray & Roberts Holdings. He was appointed to the Murray & Roberts Board in 2008. He served as chairman of the health, safety and environment committee until 2011. In 2012 he joined Cell C as its CEO until he stepped down in 2014 due to ill health.

Controversies

Please Call Me and the Constitutional Court

In 2008, former employee Nkosana Makate took

to court, claiming that the profitable Please Call Me message service was originally his invention and demanding compensation. Eight years later, Makate eventually won his case in the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

(the highest court in South Africa). Makate will now enter negotiations with Vodacom for a 15% cut of the R70 billion he claims 'Please Call Me' has earned for Vodacom since its inception. A 2014 judgement in the South Gauteng High Court supported Makate's claim to having originated Please Call Me. The court heard that, in November 2000, Makate had shared his idea (initially termed the "buzz" idea) with Philip Geissler, then board member and director of product development and management at Vodacom. Geissler had agreed to give Makate a cut should the Please Call Me innovation prove a success. Makate's witnesses presented emails sent by Geissler and an article in Vodacom's "Talk Time" internal newsletter which acknowledged and praised Makate for his idea and his contribution to the product. The court also rejected former CEO Allan Knott-Craig's lie that he had come up with the idea. Knott-Craig had published the lie in his autobiography, and later lied in court, claiming he had the idea while watching two security guards trying to communicate on phones without airtime. Yet the High Court found against Makate's claim for compensation, holding Vodacom's argument that Geissler had not had the authority to promise Makate such compensation and that the debt would have expired (in legal terms, been prescribed) within three years. Makate took the case on appeal, and then took it to the Constitutional Court. In April 2016 Justice

Chris Jafta Christopher Nyaole Jafta (born 1959) is a retired judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Early life Jafta was born outside Matatiele, now on the border between the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and went to junior and high school th ...

found in Makate's favour and against Vodacom, overturning both judgements and finding that Geissler had had the authority to promise compensation, and that Makate's case was not based on an unpaid debt. In his judgement, Justice Chris Jafta had harsh words for Knott-Craig and Geissler. Among other things he said : “In not compensating the applicant akate�� Vodacom associated itself with the dishonourable conduct of its former CEO, Mr Knott-Craig and his colleague, Mr Geissler. This leaves a sour taste in the mouth. It is not the kind of conduct to be expected from an ethical corporate entity,”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knott-Craig, Alan 1952 births South African businesspeople Living people