Roger Macdonald is the owner of a trading company called, Big Macs Emporium (BME), which operates in South Africa through an online website. BME stocks a wide range of consumer goods for sale. Roger is busy negotiating to buy a consignment of shoes from GiGis, a South African importer. They have been negotiating the price of the consignment via telephone but have not yet reached agreement. Roger must travel to China to source some goods and informs GiGis CEO, Nolundi, telephonically of his departure. She tells him that he can email her if he decides to accept the current offer she has made to him. While he is in China, he decides that the price is a good deal and he emails Nolundi, informing her of his acceptance of her offer. Three days later, when he has returned to South Africa, he telephones her to make the necessary delivery arrangements. He is shocked when she informs him that she has sold the consignment to someone else because she only received an email from him with his name typed on the bottom supposedly confirming the acceptance of her offer. She insists that, to be a binding contract, he should have signed the acceptance by adding his signature to the email as it would appear on a written document. Alternatively, she says, he could have printed the acceptance, signed it and scanned it and emailed it to her. He is sure that he has a valid contract with Nolundi and approaches you for your advice.

Advise him whether not he has a valid contract, and which legal system will be used to decide the legal question. 20 Marks