Control of .za Domain to Change Hands

October 2004

According to reports, management of South Africa's .za top-level domain is expected to be assigned to another authority at the ICANN (icann.org) meeting to be held in Cape Town in December.

The South African Department of Communications said on Thursday that the .za Domain Name Authority has applied to ICANN to be given responsibility for the domain. The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act of 2002 had called for the creation of a new body to take control of the .za.

Up till now, the .za registry, which includes between 100,000 and 150,000 registered names, has been administered by a single person - Mike Lawrie - who is credited with bringing the Internet to South Africa.