AN EMOJI WON’T HELP

A dispute between the Namibian tender board and its own review panel highlights the limits of social media for official communication

Litigating in Namibia? Be warned that the court will not regard last-minute Whatsapp messages as sufficient notice to attend hearings or other official meetings.

This much has become clear from a bizarre dispute between the country’s Central Procurement Board, which deals with state tenders, and that board’s review panel. Their dispute concerned a tender to supply a new kind of driver’s licence card, and the case panel” scheduled for later that day.

Masuku said: “This notice, believe it or not, was sent to [the official’s] mobile telephone on social media, known as ‘Whatsapp’.”

When the official tried to get out of this “impromptu hearing”, he received another Whatsapp message telling him that the panel had to adhere to strict deadlines.

“This court is not averse to the harnessing of modern technology, but there must be limits,” said the judge. “Regardless of how convenient Whatsapp as a means of communication may be, for the proper conduct of formal business such as review hearings in respect of tender queries, Whatsapp cannot be a proper or appropriate mode of notice or even service of process. I say this particularly considering that Whatsapp is dependent on one having internet connection and once in a zone where same is not available, one may not get a message, regardless of how urgent it may be. The principle of fairness should never be sacrificed on the altar of convenience.”

Legislative shortcomings