Posted by
WKH
on 20 Jul 22
Categories:
Legal & Insurance

There are four requirements for a valid acceptance in law:
1) the acceptance must be clear, unequivocal, and unambiguous,
2) the acceptance must correspond with the offer,
3) the acceptance must be made in a manner prescribed by the offeror, and
4) it must be communicated to the offeror. There is no requirement that an acceptance must be in writing.
Therefore, where a person accepts an offer via a WhatsApp message, such an acceptance will be valid and legally binding, provided it satisfies the four requirements mentioned above.
Furthermore, the Electronic Transactions Act, 2019 (the "ETA") provides that data messages, such as a WhatsApp message, may be used to form valid contracts. The ETA specifically states that a contract will be valid even though a data message has been used to make an offer or to accept the offer. Therefore, according to the laws of Namibia, it is permissible to make valid offers and acceptances per WhatsApp message, or per any other means of electronic communication, such as email or SMS. The only exception is where the offer or acceptance relates to the sale of immovable property, in which case it must be in writing. However, member's interest and shares are not immovable property and therefore the requirement that the offer and acceptance must be in writing does not apply.