.za

Infobox Top level domain
name=.za
background=#CCF


introduced=1990
type=Country code top-level domain
status=Active
registry=ZADNA
sponsor=ZADNA
intendeduse=Entities connected with flag|South Africa
actualuse=Popular in South Africa
restrictions=None in .co.za; various restrictions in other subdomains
structure=Registrations are only taken at third level beneath various second-level labels
document= [http://www.zadna.org.za/documents/DNA_Articles2.pdf Articles of Association of ZADNA]
disputepolicy=Under development
website= [http://www.zadna.org.za/ ZADNA] |

.za is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for South Africa. It is administered by the [http://www.zadna.org.za/ 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 the South Africa in 1925, and in the South African Constitution of 1961 Dutch was removed as an official language altogether, decades before .za was introduced. However, the .sa domain is used by Saudi Arabia and "ZAR" is also the ISO 4217 currency code for the South African Rand.

2nd level domains

Open and Active

* .ac.za - academic and tertiary societies
* .city.za - for municipal governments. Domain registration coming soon.
* .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.school.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.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.

Unresponsive

* .bourse.za - for all companies which are listed on the JSE Securities Exchange

Private

* .agric.za - ARC & Company
* .cybernet.za - Infront Investments Five cc
* .grondar.za - Mark R V Murray
* .iaccess.za - Compustat
* .inca.za - Internetworking Cape
* .nis.za - Network Information Systems
* .olivetti.za - Olivetti/Mark Elkins
* .pix.za - Proxima Information Exchange

Flagged for deletion

* .db.za - De Beers
* .imt.za - Institute for Maritime Technology
* .landesign.za - Lan Design (no longer exists)

External links

* [http://www.iana.org/root-whois/za.htm IANA .za whois information]
* [http://www.zadna.org.za/ ZADNA]
* [http://www.coza.net.za/ .co.za domain registration website]
* [http://www.nom.za/ .nom.za domain registration website]