.za

.za

Introduced	1990
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	ZADNA
Sponsor	ZADNA
Intended use	Entities connected with South Africa
Actual use	Popular in South Africa
Registration restrictions	None in .co.za; various restrictions in other subdomains
Structure	Registrations are only taken at third level beneath various second-level labels
Documents	Articles of Association of ZADNA
Dispute policies	Under development
Website	ZADNA

.za is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for South Africa. It is administered by the ZADNA.

None of the official names for South Africa can be abbreviated to ZA, which is an abbreviation of the Dutch Zuid-Afrika. This is a legacy of when Dutch was an official language in South Africa, before being replaced by Afrikaans, in which the name of the country is Suid-Afrika. Afrikaans joined English and Dutch as an official language of South Africa in 1925 in a synonym-status with Dutch, and in the South African Constitution of 1961 Dutch was removed as an official language altogether and replaced by Afrikaans. In 1983 Dutch lost its synonym-status with Afrikaans. However, the .sa domain is used by Saudi Arabia and ZAR is the ISO 4217 currency code for the South African Rand.

The international vehicle code for South Africa has been ZA since 1936.

2nd level domains

Open and active

• .ac.za - academic and tertiary societies
• .co.za - commercial, general use
• .edu.za - for distance learning institutions
• .gov.za - government departments
• .law.za - for legal firms
• .mil.za - military institutions
• .nom.za - for personal names, not organizations
• .org.za - for non-commercial entities.
• .school.za - for schools in South Africa
  • .ecape.school.za - Eastern Cape
  • .fs.school.za - Free State
  • .gp.school.za - Gauteng
  • .kzn.school.za - Kwazulu-Natal
  • .mpm.za - Mpumalanga
  • .ncape.school.za - Northern Cape
  • .lp.school.za - Limpopo
  • .nw.school.za - North West
  • .wcape.school.za - Western Cape

Dormant

• .alt.za - Historical registrants
• .net.work.za - Network infrastructure.
• .ngo.za - for non-governmental organizations. New registrations pending .za DNA public consultation process
• .tm.za - for trademarks. On hold pending establishment of the .ZA DNA
• .web.za - only for web servers. New registration system under development.

Private

• .agric.za - ARC & Company
• .grondar.za - Mark R V Murray
• .inca.za - Internetworking Cape
• .nis.za - Network Information Systems

Former (Deleted)

ZADNA removed a number of domains from the .za zone on the 7 August 2009

• .bourse.za - for all companies which are listed on the JSE Securities Exchange
• .city.za - for municipal governments.
• .cybernet.za - Infront Investments Five cc
• .db.za - De Beers
• .iaccess.za - Compustat
• .imt.za - Institute for Maritime Technology
• .landesign.za - Lan Design (no longer exists)
• .olivetti.za - Olivetti/Mark Elkins
• .pix.za - Proxima Information Exchange

External links

• IANA .za whois information
• .co.za domain registration website
• .nom.za domain registration website