What .ZA Domain Name Authority does

.ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) is a not-for-profit statutory regulator and manager of South Africa's country code top-level domain (.ZA), established under section 59 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 and accountable to the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT). It licenses and oversees a layered ecosystem of registry operators — ZA Registry Consortium (ZARC) for commercial SLDs (co.za, org.za, net.za, web.za), TENET for ac.za, SITA for gov.za, the e-Schools Network for school.za, and the Cape Law Society for law.za — and accredits more than 300 registrars that handle retail domain sales. Core products include the NIC.ZA information portal, WHOIS lookup, an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service (R10,000 one-adjudicator, R24,000 three-adjudicator panels) administered through accredited providers such as SAIIPL, and a DNSSEC Policy and Practice Statement (DPS) for the .ZA namespace built on OpenDNSSEC and BIND. The business model is regulatory and cost-recovery rather than commercial: ZADNA approves wholesale domain pricing (R61 per commercial domain from October 2024, a 5.23% CPI-linked increase from R55) but does not retain the per-domain fee, which accrues to ZARC and supports a non-commercial development fund. Revenue is augmented by ADR fees, registry and registrar licensing, and nominal training fees (R2,000 refundable reservation for DNS technical training). Customer segments span commercial businesses, government, higher education, schools, non-profits, legal professionals, network operators, and IP owners. Recent activity includes the October 2024 multi-year registration policy (up to 5 years), draft registry and registrar licensing regulations published in 2025, an RFI issued in May 2026 for post-2027 commercial registry services, and a DCDT governance investigation in 2024/2025 that triggered a R247,757.84 recovery action against the CEO and a broader governance reform programme.

Name

.ZA Domain Name Authority

Legal name

.ZA Domain Name Authority

Website

https://zadna.org.za

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

.ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) is the statutory regulator of South Africa's .ZA country code top-level domain, licensing registries and 300+ registrars, providing DNSSEC, ADR dispute resolution, and policy oversight under the ECT Act 2002.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Domain Name Registry

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)

akta.pro primary industry

Privacy Governance & Consent Management (HDADAIAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Privacy Management (Consent, DSAR, RoPA) (HDADAFAH)

Keywords

• CcTLD management
• Domain name registry
• DNS security
• Domain dispute resolution
• Internet governance

Headquarters

HQ city

Midrand

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Registry Licensing Fees: ZADNA approves wholesale pricing for .ZA domain names through registries for particular SLDs. Commercial SLDs (co.za, org.za, net.za, web.za) are managed by ZARC with fees set at R61.00 per domain name (from October 2024), up from R55.00, reflecting a 5.23% CPI-linked adjustment
2. ADR Fees: Fees collected from ADR service providers for each resolved dispute. One adjudicator panel costs R10,000; three adjudicator panel costs R24,000. ZADNA accredits service providers to provide ADR services
3. Registry and Registrar Licensing: ZADNA licenses registries and registrars for respective SLDs in terms of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (2002). This includes accreditation of ADR service providers
4. Non-Commercial Development Fund: Following fee adjustments, ZARC collects and transfers accumulated funds monthly to support non-commercial initiatives and capacity developments within the .za namespace

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

.ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) regulates and manages the .ZA country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) namespace on behalf of the South African internet community. It accredits registry operators and registrars, deploys DNSSEC to secure the .ZA zone, runs an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service for domain name disputes, and delivers education, training, and awareness programmes on internet governance. ZADNA is established under the ECT Act and is accountable to the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT).

Product overview

.ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) operates as a statutory regulator and manager of South Africa's country code top-level domain (.ZA), functioning as a not-for-profit entity established under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act. The organization offers a unified regulatory platform encompassing domain name registry oversight, DNSSEC security deployment, and Alternative Dispute Resolution services. The core products include DNSSEC signing for the .ZA namespace, the NIC.ZA information portal providing SLD registry details and WHOIS lookup, and ADR services for domain disputes. Supporting offerings include registry operator licensing, education and awareness programs for DNS industry capacity building, research publications, and the annual .za Awards recognizing industry excellence. ZADNA manages both moderated SLDs (requiring eligibility verification) and unmoderated SLDs, with commercial domains (co.za, org.za, net.za, web.za) operated by ZA Registry Consortium under five-year agreements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Service A paid dispute resolution service for .ZA domain name disputes, available to trademark holders, brand owners, and other complainants. Priced at R10,000 for a single adjudicator or R24,000 for a three-adjudicator panel, with financial assistance available to qualifying complainants.
• Registry and Registrar Licensing Licensing service that accredits registry operators (e.g., ZARC for co.za, SITA for gov.za, TENET for ac.za) and 300+ registrars to operate within the .ZA namespace, with annual CPI-linked licence fee adjustments.
• NIC.ZA Namespace Information Portal Public-facing information portal that provides .ZA namespace information, policies, statistics, research publications, and member programme details to registrants, registrars, and the general public.
• WHOIS Lookup Service Public WHOIS lookup service that returns registration data for .ZA domain names and is provisioned through ZADNA-accredited registrars.
• Education and Awareness Programmes (DNS Technical Training) Paid training programme (DNS Technical Training) and broader awareness initiatives that build internet governance capacity among South African technical, legal, and policy professionals, delivered by instructors including Johan Stenstam and Mark Elkins.
• School Digitization Programme Programme run by ZADNA to support South African schools through digitization initiatives tied to the school.za second-level domain.

Quantifiable outcome

• Domain registration fee: R61.00 per domain name (from October 2024) for commercial SLDs, up from R55.00 (5.23% CPI adjustment)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 May 2025Government department that ZADNA is accountable to. ZADNA works in partnership with DCDT to host the annual South African Internet Governance Forum (ZAIGF). The department oversees ZADNA as a state-owned entity.
• ZA Registry Consortium (ZARC)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 2 September 2022ZARC is the appointed registry operator for .za commercial second-level domains (co.za, org.za, net.za, web.za) for five years from October 2022. ZARC is a consortium established by ZA Central Registry (non-profit company) and Domain Name Services (Pty) Ltd. They provide administrative and technical services for operation and maintenance of the commercial SLDs.
• Google South AfricacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 March 2022Partner in the ZA Schools Digitisation programme launched at Kgolathuto in Phuthaditjhaba. The programme provides domain names and school email addresses for learners and educators through Google Classroom integration.
• NEMISA (National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 March 2022Partner in the ZA Schools Digitisation programme. NEMISA collaborated with ZADNA and Google South Africa to launch digitisation at 35 schools in the Free State province.
• TENET (Tertiary Education Network)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTENET operates the ac.za registry for higher education institutions, learned societies and associated research and support institutions in South Africa.
• SITA (State Information Technology Agency)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSITA operates the gov.za registry for South African government entities.
• ZA Central Registry (ZACR)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorZACR is a non-profit company that operates all un-moderated SLDs (co.za, net.za, org.za, web.za) and has accredited over 300 registrars. ZACR and Domain Name Services together form ZARC.
• SAIIPL (South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law)majorTechnology or IntegrationAccredited ADR service provider for domain name disputes. ZADNA utilises SAIIPL to provide independent adjudication for domain name disputes that cannot be resolved through mediation.
• e-Schools NetworkminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOperates school.za registry for schools domiciled and recognised in South Africa.
• Cape Law SocietyminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOperates law.za moderated registry for attorneys and advocates admitted under South African law.
• ISPA (Internet Service Providers Association)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerZADNA, ZARC and ISPA jointly publish Public Advisory on Domain Name Fraud to equip users with information to detect and report online fraud including phishing, counterfeit tenders, and fraudulent banking sites.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• ICANN: Global multi-stakeholder coordinator of the DNS namespace and root zone. ICANN oversees all ccTLDs (including .ZA) and is the broader governing body within which ZADNA operates as a country-level delegate.

Direct peers

• InternetNZ: Not-for-profit manager of the .nz ccTLD with member-based governance, registry oversight, and community funding programmes analogous to ZADNA's structure.
• DENIC: Germany's .de ccTLD registry operating as a not-for-profit cooperative, providing registry services, DNSSEC, and dispute resolution. Comparable in mandate, scale, and regulatory positioning to ZADNA.
• Registro.br: Brazil's ccTLD registry operated by NIC.br, a not-for-profit entity managing .br under a similar mandate of registration, DNSSEC, and policy oversight.
• Afnic: France's ccTLD registry operating .fr under a similar not-for-profit mandate with registry/registrar licensing, DNSSEC operations, and policy development. Afnic's regulatory and technical scope is highly comparable to ZADNA.
• Nominet: Statutory not-for-profit regulator of the .uk ccTLD, with similar registry oversight, registrar accreditation, and dispute resolution functions. Nominet's policy and member-based governance model closely mirrors ZADNA's structure under the ECT Act.
• CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority): Canada's .ca ccTLD operator and cybersecurity-focused registry, with member-driven governance, DNSSEC deployment, and DARP (dispute resolution). CIRA's operational and policy structure closely parallels ZADNA.
• auDA (.au Domain Administration): Australian ccTLD policy and regulatory authority operating under a multi-stakeholder model similar to ZADNA's governance structure, with oversight of .au namespace licensing and dispute handling.
• IEDR (.IE Registry): Ireland's .ie ccTLD registry with a comparable mandate of domain registration policy, registrar accreditation, and dispute resolution. Smaller scale and similar single-country scope.

Regional players

• NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India): India's not-for-profit registry operator for .in ccTLD, comparable to ZADNA as an emerging-market ccTLD regulator with registrar accreditation and registry oversight, though serving a much larger addressable market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/dotzadna
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCJGMfSdr_R9Fr9JRcGPCzjQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/.za-domain-name-authority
• Instagraminstagram.com/dotzadna

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about .ZA Domain Name Authority